Crossroads: The Untold Story of Annabelle Cross
by Lady Athene
Summary: So, I was thinking to myself one day, whilst bored out of my mind, what if Cross had an illegitimate child? And that's how Annabelle was developed. This is her story, as the daughter of General Cross, and her journey to find her father, and herself.
1. Discovery

**Okay guys, the reason why I'm re-re-uploading this is because the pen-drive that originally had the story on it caught a virus that won't allow me to save anything to, or delete anything from, it. So I've had to re-type this entire story. I've also added chapter ten and fixed some spelling and grammar errors as well as made some changes to it. Please let me know what you think. Disclaimer: I own nothing but the characters that haven't appeared in the anime or manga, i.e. Annabelle, her mother, her adopted father, some stray Finders, and various characters that will appear later on in the story. The lovely Katsura Hoshino owns everything else.**

**Chapter One**

**12 years before the events of -man…**

The sun was rising over the city of Poitiers, but the sky was far from clear. White, fluffy-looking clouds that plagued the sky were turned a slight purple by the coming dawn. Up and down the streets, the city was beginning to come to life. People emerged from buildings and, in what seemed like mere minutes, the hustle and bustle of the streets began.

From her room on the fourth story of her mother's extravagant mansion, seven-year-old Annabelle Hale could see it all. She wasn't usually up this early, but her nursemaid, Clara, had told her that, if she woke up early enough, she could see the sun rise. For a good five minutes, she sat there, watching in complete amazement as the golden disk of light transformed the sky from a deep orange to a pale pink. As she sat there, she thought about what the sunrise would look like in America, the place where everyone said the most beautiful landscapes were. She wondered if it would be different, and, if so, how would it be different?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a slight knock on her bedroom door.

"Ms. Hale, it's time to get you ready for the day," a kind, female voice said.

"You can come in Clara," Annabelle said, "And please, next time, call me Annabelle."

The door opened and a stout, middle-aged woman with greying blonde hair and wizened hazel eyes stepped in. Clara stood at about five feet, two inches tall and looked as if she were the world's strictest nanny. However, this was not so. It was quite the opposite in fact. She was Annabelle's favorite person in the whole world, next to her parents, of course.

As Annabelle approached Clara, the nanny smiled. _Oh how much she's grown in the past few days, _she thought.

Clara had already picked out a dress for her, a pale blue one with a gold bow in the back. As she pulled the expensive dress over her charge's head, she noted how long and wavy the girl's scarlet hair was getting. _She'll be the prize of some rich young lad when she's older._ Clara sighed as she thought this, for she didn't want Annabelle to leave. She loved the girl as if she were her own child and was thankful to Master Hale for allowing her to stay on with his staff when he married and moved to France.

"Clara," Annabelle began, addressing the nurse, "Do you think I could ever become a soldier?"

"Why ever would you want to be a soldier?" Clara asked, shocked. "It would dirty your beautiful face and put callouses on your dainty hands. Besides, you wouldn't get to wear your lovely dresses."

"I don't care about that Clara! I want to travel, to see the world, to get my face and hands dirty. Stuff like that. I want to see what it'd be like to fight in a war. You know, be one of the boys for a while."

The stout nursemaid smiled at her young charge's naivety. _Ah, to be young,_ she thought, reminiscing about a time when she, too, was a naïve little girl in her mother's cottage, dreaming of becoming a singer.

She looked at her young mistress, her hazel eyes gazing into Annabelle's jade green ones, and said, "My dear Ms. Hale, I don't believe your father would agree with your dream."

"It's okay Clara, I'm sure I can get him to see it my way," Annabelle said, smiling.

Clara brushed Annabelle's wavy, scarlet hair and fashioned it into two high pigtails, much to the young girl's displeasure.

"Perfect!" Clara exclaimed, "Now you may go and play."

"But I don't want to play today. I want to read my storybooks," Annabelle protested, sticking out her lower lip in a pout.

"Now, now Ms. Hale, you spent all day yesterday reading your fables and whatnot. Your mother has requested that you go out and get some exercise." Clara said, ignoring Annabelle's pouting face.

"Okay, fine," Annabelle consented, picking up a little toy bow that was propped against her bedpost.

It was a gift from her mother for her sixth birthday and, although it was only a toy, she treated it as if it were the real thing. She slung it over her shoulder and meandered out into the hallway.

Upon reaching her mother's bedchamber door, she stopped, pressed her ear to the door, and listened. She heard voices coming from inside the room. Now, any good girl would know that it's wrong to eavesdrop on one's mother while she's conversing with someone in private, but Annabelle, being curious by nature, decided to listen in for a while. She knew that Clara was busy straightening up her bed and would then go on to other pressing matters, so she would be safe for a little while.

"How is he Claudia?" A deep, masculine voice said.

_I didn't know that mama had gentlemen friends, _Annabelle thought. Then she thought, _does papa know about this?_

"Oh Cross," Annabelle's mother sobbed, "He's getting worse with every passing minute! I don't know what to do!"

_What's wrong with mama?_ Annabelle asked herself, worried. _And who are they talking about? Papa?_

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for Jakob, I am sorry I can't be of any help to you." The strange, male voice said.

Annabelle's mother let out a loud cry. Annabelle, fearing for her mother and not caring if she was caught, quickly opened the door to the master bedroom.

"Mama," she shouted, "What's wrong?"

Annabelle opened her jade green eyes wide with surprise for; right in front of her was a tall man with long crimson hair wearing the strangest clothes she'd ever seen. It was a long, black coat with gold buttons and detailing and a golden, cross-like emblem with strange writing on it. He wore heavy, black, leather boots, half of a white mask on the right side of his face, and glasses. Annabelle noticed that his eyes were as crimson as his hair, with the same glint in them as she had seen in her own eyes.

_Who is this man? _she thought, _and why does he look so familiar?_

Her mother, Claudia Hale, sat in a small wooden chair by the bed. She was a short, French woman with curly blonde hair, fair skin, pale green eyes, and a slender build. Today, she wore a dress that was the exact same color of her eyes with silver ribbons and lace. Her face, previously in her hands, lifted itself up to look at her daughter. She had tears in her eyes and looked as if she were trying to swallow her sobs.

She smiled at Annabelle and spoke, "Nothing's wrong_ ma cheri._ I'm just visiting with one of my old friends."

Annabelle wasn't convinced. "But mama, you were crying! I heard you," she said, concerned.

"I…" Claudia began, but at a glance from the strangely-clothed man, she reconsidered what she was going to say. "I'll tell you later, _ma cheri._ But first," she said, directing her attention toward the red-headed man, "Cross, this is my daughter, Annabelle. Annabelle, this is General Cross Marian. He and I have known each other for a long time now."

"It's a pleasure to meet you child." The strange man said, "It's been fun, Claudia, but I have business to attend to. I'll see you around." With that being said, he left Annabelle and her mother alone.

"Where's papa?" Annabelle asked her mother.

"He's sleeping in the bed right now," Claudia said, "Come, child, we have something to talk about."

Claudia led Annabelle down the large staircase to the parlor on the first floor. It was simple in design compared with most of the house, which was more elaborately furnished, but it did have its fair share of antique decorations. Claudia sat down on the sofa and set her daughter on her lap.

"What do you want to tell me mama?" Annabelle asked.

"Annabelle, sweetheart, papa is," she paused, considering how to phrase what she was going to say to her daughter, "He's very sick, in fact, he may-"

"You mean papa's going to die soon?" Annabelle asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"N-yes, Annabelle. Papa may die soon. Before he does, he wanted me to tell you-"

"Why can't he tell me himself?" Annabelle shouted, but as soon as she did so, she regretted it.

With tears in her eyes, Claudia said, "Papa's very weak and cannot bear to speak because of the pain it brings him. Besides, it's not his duty to tell you what I'm about to tell you."

Annabelle looked at her mother, noticing for the first time how beautiful and vulnerable she was. She always thought of her mother as someone strong, brave and enduring. Yet, now, Annabelle realized that Claudia Hale was only strong for her sake. _What could she tell me that papa can't,_ she wondered to herself.

"Annabelle," Claudia began, "The man lying in my bedroom upstairs isn't your father."

Annabelle's green eyes widened in shock and confusion. In her mind, thousands of different, unorganized thoughts floated around. Thoughts like: _What is mama talking about?_ and _is the man in mama's bed an imposter?_

Finally, coming out of the confusion in her head, she asked, "What do you mean mama?"

"The man I married, Jakob Hale, is not your real father. I met your real father before I married Jakob. Your real father has just left this very manor. Your real father is General Cross Marian."

When Claudia was finished explaining, Annabelle's mind was a swirling mass of emotions. Sorrow, anger, shock, and confusion spun around inside of her. She didn't know what to say to this. She was angry that her mother hadn't told her this before, sad that the man who raised her was dying, and confused about why all of this was happening to her young self.

Finally, her emotions volunteered anger as the opening speaker and, choking back her sobs, she yelled, "Why didn't you stop that man? Why didn't you tell me this before? Why now? Why? Why? WHY?"

Her mother cried out in sorrow and the tears spilled forth from her eyes. She knew she couldn't give her daughter a good enough answer to her many questions and she felt sorry. Sorry for herself, sorry for her daughter, and sorry for her dying husband. She just couldn't take it anymore! If it wasn't for the fact that Annabelle was still young, she'd probably have killed herself by now.

Annabelle looked at her mother and felt the sorrows she was experiencing, but she was just so angry with her mother that she couldn't console the grief her mother was feeling. She decided to go let off some steam outside and shoot a few of the targets her father made her with her little toy bow.

Inside the manor, Annabelle's mother still sat on the sofa, sobbing her eyes out.

"Claudia…" a voice said. It seemed to ring inside her mind, compelling her to move from the sofa and into her bedroom.

She didn't know how she knew it wanted her to go to the bedroom; she just had this feeling that it did. She opened the door to her bedchamber, slowly walked toward the bed where her husband lay, dying and, placing her fingers on Jakob's neck, checked his pulse. She felt nothing, just dead skin that was still warm from recent life. Claudia sank to her knees on the floor and, head in her hands, she wept, softly, so as not to alert her young daughter.

In the middle of her grieving, she thought she heard someone enter the room. She lifted her face from her hands and her eyes fell upon the figure of an obese, grey-skinned man. Well, at least what she thought was a man. He wore a light, yellow-green suit, circular spectacles, and a very tall top hat that was decorated with various knickknacks. He also carried the strangest looking umbrella she'd ever seen. It was green and purple with a spiked tip and a pumpkin skewered by it.

"Oh," the strange-looking fat man began, "Don't look so sad my pretty. It'll all be better soon, you'll see." The strange man would've grinned at her if it wasn't for the fact that he was always grinning in the first place.

"How can it ever get better?" Claudia shouted, "My husband is dead!" She began to wail loudly.

"Now, now," the fat man said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to the distraught woman, who blew her nose and set it on the bedside table, "That's where the trick is. How would you like to see your husband smile again? You could kiss him again and bring up your child to be a lovely, innocent woman with him."

Claudia looked at him, bewildered by what he had told her, and said, "But how can you do that? It's impossible!"

"All you have to do is call out his name and he will come back in this," a mechanical skeleton with a star on its forehead appeared next to the fat man, "Body."

The man's eyes glowed menacingly.

"Okay," Claudia said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Sounds easy enough," she lifted up her head and cried out, "Jakob, come back to me!"

There was a bright light from above that withdrew into the mechanical skeleton. Jakob's name engraved itself into the forehead above the pentacle and the body began to twitch and convulse.

Then, it spoke, "Claudia…how could you?" It was Jakob's voice, crying out in agony. "I thought you loved me! How could you have turned me into an Akuma?"

The fat man laughed. It was an evil cackle that sent chills down Claudia's spine and lingered in the air even when he'd finished.

"Now my brand new Akuma, kill this woman and wear her body as your own!" The fat man cackled again and flew away out the window with his umbrella.

The mechanized body flung itself at Claudia. She screamed as it cut through her flesh. It waited for her to bleed out before disemboweling her body and pulled the skin over itself. It then stumbled down the stairs, not quite used to the small, feminine body it now inhabited, and took its place on the sofa, patiently waiting for its chance to strike.

After a few hours, Annabelle grew tired of playing with her toy bow and decided that she was fit to go comfort her dear mother. She entered the house through the front door and made her way to the parlor. There, she found her mother in the same position she'd left her in, the only difference being the fact that she was no longer crying.

Annabelle thought this quite strange and, being the curious child she was, questioned this.

"Mama?" she asked, worried about her mother's emotional state of being.

Her mother said nothing. Instead, she turned her head slowly and looked at her daughter.

"Mama?" Annabelle asked again.

Still nothing. Her mother stood up and advanced toward her.

Annabelle's emotions changed from suspicious and concerned to panicked and frightened.

"Mama, what's going on?"

Again, her mother said nothing, but, as Annabelle watched her mother's approach, she noticed that her skull was slowly splitting apart. Now Annabelle was horrified. She stood there, frozen to the spot as she watched what was once her mother become a hideous, sphere-shaped monster. It was covered in cannons and looked a living meteor. The one thing, in Annabelle's opinion, that was really disgusting about it was the fact that there was a human-looking face upon it whose expression was twisted into one of utter agony.

_So,_ Annabelle thought, _this is what it's like to truly be afraid._

Across the street from the large mansion stood a man of average height with greying-brown hair, tied back in a low ponytail, and dark, compassionate, brown eyes that sat behind a large pair of square-framed glasses. As he gazed at the manor, he thought it to be so beautiful that he pulled out a pencil and a sketch pad and began to draw it.

He was so immersed in his sketch that he barely noticed the tall, muscular Finder approaching.

"General Tiedoll," the Finder said, "We have to get going, we have a mission to stick to."

"I'll be just a minute Limae," the man called Tiedoll said.

Just then, a high-pitched scream emanated from the manor across the way. It seemed to continue on even though the source had stopped.

"An Akuma!" Both men shouted, and they dashed toward the extravagant house.

Inside the house, Annabelle was panicking. Her mother had turned into a monster that had probably killed the man she called "father" and now it was out to kill her too. She ran through the house toward the second floor where the servants' quarters were, hoping that Clara would be there to protect her.

She called out Clara's name as she hit the landing, the monster close behind her. She reached the servants' quarters and found her loyal nursemaid standing in the doorway waiting for her to enter.

Annabelle burst through the doorway and into the arms of the other servants. They shielded her with their bodies while Clara barricaded the door. The blockade didn't last long, for the monster shot the door down with its cannons. The bullet that broke the door hit Clara on the thigh, causing her to fall.

"Clara!" Annabelle screamed as her nursemaid's body turned to dust. She tried to break free of the huddle, but her mother's loyal servants held her back, willing her to stay put.

The monstrosity that was once their mistress killed them off, one by one, right before Annabelle's very eyes. She began to weep. She was cornered, with nowhere to go. When she was pretending, it all seemed so easy; she could just stop playing and go inside whenever her adventures went out of hand. Now, however, she was faced with real danger. She was seven-years-old for God's sake! She knew she was going to die, so what was the use in fighting it? She sank to her knees and sobbed loudly. The monster readied its cannons to fire at her.

At that moment, the window behind her shattered and a man wearing roughly the same thing as the red-headed stranger she now knew as her real father appeared. The only difference between the two great-coats was the fact that this man rolled his sleeves up and the coat was frayed at the edges from much traveling and fighting.

He pulled out what looked like a sculpting kit, and, at that moment, Annabelle remembered the toy bow in her hand. However, when she looked at it now, it didn't look like her bow. Looking at it now, she could see that it was glowing a greenish silver color, and the string now looked like pure silver.

Annabelle didn't know what to think at first. She thought that maybe it'd been hit by one of the monster's bullets and was about to disintegrate, but she remembered how Clara looked before she died.

_She wasn't glowing, _Annabelle thought, _I know that much. I think she had black stars all over her._

The man in the tattered, black great-coat didn't seem to notice as he was busy with the monster. Annabelle felt as though she knew what she had to do, as if she'd done this before. She reached down deep inside herself and her bow told her its name.

_Genesis Bow,_ it whispered in her mind. It was a sweet, but powerful voice. In fact, it sounded a bit like her own, only older.

She called out its name, "Genesis Bow!" and after that, the rest seemed second nature to her. "Cleanse this soul of its demons and restore the inner balance of its heart!"

Annabelle pulled back the bow's glistening silver string and a greenish arrow of light appeared. She took aim at the monster, knew, somehow, that her aim would be true, and let the arrow fly. It pierced the monster's face, right through the pentacle, and shot out through the other side. Upon being penetrated, the monster exploded.

As Annabelle looked around the room, she realized that the man who'd come through the window had stopped fighting the monster to watch her. He had a glint in his brown eyes, as if he'd found some lost, buried treasure, and Annabelle found herself wondering how much stranger this day could get.

"General, are you alright?" a gruff, male voice called from the hallway.

Just then, a tall, tan-skinned man in a white, hooded long coat appeared. He carried what looked like a portable communications device on his back and had a concerned expression in his violet eyes.

"Don't worry about me Limae," the general said, "The Akuma was only a Level One."

"You were able to easily defeat it then?"

"It wasn't me who destroyed it," he said, gesturing toward Annabelle. "It was this young girl. Limae, I believe we have a new Accommodator."

The man called Limae's eyes widened as he gazed at Annabelle in her, now dirty, blue dress with her silvery bow in her hands.

"But General Tiedoll," Limae began, "She's only a little girl. We cannot bring her into this war!"

"I know," Tiedoll said with sorrow in his eyes, "But now that we know she's an Accommodator, the Earl will know as well. She'll be much safer at Headquarters than anywhere else on Earth."

That was when Annabelle, exhausted from the fight with the monster and the fact that she had absolutely no idea what was going on, fainted. Tiedoll caught her and carried her over to Limae.

He placed her in the Finder's strong arms and said, "Take her straight to Headquarters, go as fast as you can, and most importantly, keep her safe. No matter what the cost, you must get her to Komui alive."

Limae nodded an affirmative, "Yes sir!" and took off, leaving Tiedoll alone in the ruined mansion.

After Limae left, Tiedoll made his way toward the nearest inn. He had to contact Komui and get him to send an Exorcist to meet Limae and escort Annabelle to Headquarters. After that, he could continue his mission.


	2. Ambush

**Chapter Two**

Limae carried Annabelle piggyback as he exited the city. His destination wasn't far, but he couldn't risk being seen. With a strange grin upon his face, he ran on. It wasn't long before he came to a small forest. He was tired and needed to rest, so he set his small charge down gently and started a fire. After it was lit, he went off into the forest to find some wood to sustain the fire.

Annabelle awoke to find herself alone in the forest next to a blazing fire. The last thing she remembered was destroying that evil monster that was once her mother and passing out on the floor. She wondered who had carried her here and why they had left a little girl like herself alone in the middle of the woods.

Then, she remembered the two men who had come to rescue her and thought, _one of them must've brought me here, but why? And where are they now?_

She was cold, despite the fire, but it wasn't a physical coldness per say. It was the cold one feels when one is afraid for one's very life. It was a cold that feels as if Death is literally knocking at your door, the cold of pure terror.

Then, there came a rustling in the forest behind her. Something was coming closer, but what? Annabelle stood up, grabbed her bow, and readied herself for battle.

The rustling grew louder with each minute that passed until the man in the white uniform appeared. He looked startled to see Annabelle awake, but it didn't last. His expression softened immediately, as if to hide something.

"Hello," the man said, almost nervously, "My name is Limae and I'm a Finder."

"What were you doing in the woods?" Annabelle asked the man.

Limae paused as if considering what to say next. Then, he spoke. "Why, child, I was out getting firewood."

Annabelle looked at Limae and noticed that he carried no firewood whatsoever. She wasn't stupid, she knew he was lying, but she decided to play along with the situation and see where it led to.

"Oh," she said, "Okay. Why don't you have any with you?"

"I couldn't find any dead logs," Limae said, getting angry, "You ask a lot of questions young lady."

"I'm seven, what do you expect?"

"There you go with the questions again! I can't do this anymore!" Limae screamed.

In his head, he thought, _they better hurry up or I'm going to kill this girl myself._

Annabelle looked at this man, fully grown and very intimidating, getting so worked up over a silly little thing like questions! _I'm more of an adult that he is,_ she thought. She couldn't help but laugh at the big man.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Limae asked.

Annabelle laughed at the animosity in his voice. However, upon turning around, she stopped. She looked up at the sky and found herself looking at at least half a dozen or so of the monster she'd killed earlier. She was about to draw her back her bow when two large hands gripped her arms and bent them behind her back.

She looked behind her and found that the large hands belonged to Limae. She let out an earsplitting scream and Limae, moving one of her arms so that he held them both in one hand, placed his now free hand over her mouth to muffle her cries.

About half a mile away, a tan-skinned, lightly muscled man in his early twenties heard the unmistakable sound of a girl's scream. The man was tall and mostly bald, save for what little hair he had tied back in a high, braided ponytail. These factors were what made Noize Marie intimidating, but he was blind and, because of that, had developed an undying sense of compassion for each and every living thing.

What he lacked in sight, he made up for with his extremely acute sense of hearing at an unbearable degree, but the guys in the Science Department had put together a set of headphones for him so that the noise wouldn't be deafening.

Upon hearing the girl's scream, he thought to himself, _someone's in trouble. It may be the girl Komui sent me to pick up. No matter, I must save her, _and he ran off toward the direction of the noise.

Annabelle squirmed and struggled to free herself of the strong man's grasp, but to no avail. Each and every little movement she made only made her situation hurt more than it already did. The monsters pointed their cannons at her, preparing to fire. Annabelle let out a muffled, yet earsplitting nonetheless; cry as the bullets came close to her.

She braced herself for impact, shutting her eyes all the while, but none came. She also found that she could move her arms. She opened her eyes and found herself in the arms of a man who looked enough to be a very young uncle.

He was tall and lightly muscled with tan skin and a small patch of dark brown hair tied back into a braided ponytail. However, when Annabelle tried to see what color his eyes were, she couldn't. He was blind, and his eyes were clouded by cataracts, but he seemed to know where he was going. He wore a similar coat to that of the man who'd previously saved her, but his was shorter and had silver decorations and a silver cross rather than gold ones. She had also noticed that he was wearing a large pair of metal ear muffs and what looked like silver rings on each of his fingers.

He stood firmly on the ground, directly in front of the hoard of monsters, and set Annabelle down beside him. He had a look of seriousness on his face as he stared down the monsters.

"Noël Organ," the man said, his voice deep and a tad bit on the gravelly side.

As he said the name of his weapon, strings shot out of each ring and cut through the monsters' rock-like bodies. Annabelle was impressed and shocked at the same time. Then, she remembered Limae, the man who'd betrayed her, and looked in the direction of where he had previously sat in. He wasn't there, but, as she looked closer, she could see his white, cloak-like uniform in a pile of dust.

"Poor man," the blind man said, "Turned to the Earl because of his greed. The Order didn't pay him to his tastes so he betrayed us."

"Um, excuse me," Annabelle said, "Who are you?"

"How rude of me, my name is Noize Marie. I'm an Exorcist for the Black Order," he said bowing low to her.

"Wow! You killed those monsters without even seeing them!"

"It seems I am not the only one with a disadvantage in battle. While I cannot see the Akuma, you sound too young to even defeat one. Now, I believe I am to escort you to Headquarters."

"How nice, I get a chauffeur," Annabelle said sarcastically. "I can take care of myself you know!"

Marie laughed. It was a rich, loud, boisterous chuckle of a laugh and, upon hearing it, Annabelle was angered.

"What?" she yelled, "If that stupid man hadn't snuck up on me I could've totally destroyed those monsters!"

"I apologize," he said, calming himself, "It's just that you remind me of a friend of mine. He would have said exactly the same thing, even though he sometimes gets a little carried away."

Marie smiled as he remembered his days training under General Tiedoll. He remembered the two boys he trained with, Daisya Barry and Yu Kanda, and stifled a laugh as he recalled the fights between the two. His Master would always try to stop them by saying things like, "Let's just try to get along," and "Now, now, you two are brothers in arms, let's not fight."

"What do you mean by that?" Annabelle questioned, pulling Marie out of his memories.

"Never mind," he said, still smiling, "Come, we have far to go and little time to get there. Besides, I can hear more Akuma coming this way."

"What's an Akuma?" Annabelle asked, puzzled by the older boy's remark.

Marie smiled at the girl again and said, "I've no time to explain now, you'll learn it all in due time. Now come, before we are greeted by one."

Marie picked Annabelle up and carried her piggy-back as he ran through the forest, keeping silent all the while. As they traveled, Annabelle couldn't help but think that today would be the end of the life she knew at home. That she would see many more horrors as she grew older. Some would be worse than others, but she would push through. If not for herself, then for her mother and Jakob, for the possibility of finding her true father, for each and every person who had suffered as her family had. Though she was worried about what the future would bring, she smiled, in spite of the danger she was in. Somehow, she knew she could trust the man who was carrying her through the forest, she could trust her new home. Eventually, she fell asleep.


	3. Nightmares

**Chapter Three**

It was that day all over again. There she was, entering her house through the front door. She walked down the hallway, turned left at the end, and entered the parlor to console her grieving mother. In a quick flash, her mother turned into the same circular, cannon-covered monster she had before. Another quick flash and she was running for her life again, toward her loving servants. Flash. Her servants were dead around her. Flash. A mysterious, smiling, grey face appeared in front of her. It was wearing a top-hat and round spectacles.

"Hehehe…" It laughed sinisterly, "First, the man you called father, then, your beloved mother and her servants. Guess who's next."

The face laughed again and Annabelle screamed.

She awoke, shaking and drenched in ice cold sweat. She must've screamed out loud as well because Marie had burst into the room, pulling on his coat as he did so. It was then that she noticed that she was actually sitting inside of a building.

"What is it?" Marie asked, concerned.

"It's nothing," Annabelle replied, "Just a bad dream. Oh, I'm sorry. I've forgotten to introduce myself. How rude of me! My name is Annabelle. I guess I didn't have time to introduce myself before because we were running from those…. What were they called again?"

"Akuma," Marie replied, "And it's alright little one. Had I been in your shoes I would have forgotten as well."

"Where are we?" Annabelle asked looking around the unfamiliar room.

"An inn in a small sea port. We'll be catching a ship to London in the morning."

"Why London?"

"You are quite full of questions little one." Marie said smiling, remembering a time in his own childhood when he was as curious as a newborn kitten. "I suppose I should at least answer most of them to satisfy your curiosity. London is where Headquarters is."

"Oh…" Annabelle said. "You don't mind that I ask so many questions?"

"No, little one." Marie smiled at the girl, regarding her as he would a very young sibling. "Your curiosity is healthy for one your age. The questions you ask are how you learn of the world around you. I do not fault you for it. Ask me what you will."

"Okay." Annabelle said smiling brightly. Then she dropped her smile and picked up a look of concern. "I guess I should let you get back to bed now. I'm sorry for waking you."

"It's alright." Marie answered her reassuringly. "Do you have night terrors often?"

Annabelle thought about it for a bit, trying to remember the dreams she'd had in the past. Finally, after a moment, she spoke. "Not that I can remember. I think this is the first one I've had since I was really little."

"Very well then. If you need me, do not be afraid to call me. Good night Anna-" Marie paused midsentence, listening.

"What is it?"

"Akuma approaching from the east. There are about five of them. Maybe they believe that we will be easily defeated because not only are we supposed to be asleep at this hour, but because they believe I will be hindered by your presence."

"Will you-" Annabelle began to ask, but Marie interrupted.

"No little one. I will be fine. It takes more than five Akuma to bring me down, even while I'm defending another." he replied with confidence.

"How close are they?"

"They should be here about-" the wall next to Annabelle's window shattered, flinging glass every which way. Five Akuma clustered together outside, rushing to get in.

"At least we have them in a funnel for now," Marie said, smiling.

Annabelle looked at the large man and thought; _he sure does smile a lot, _though she didn't have much more time for thought as the Akuma made their way into the small room.

"Instinct guided her as she dove for her toy bow. When she grabbed it, instinct drove her to call out her weapon's name, and when it activated and became the silvery-green bow that was its true form, instinct drove her to dive out of the path of the Akuma bullet and draw back her bow. She was running on pure adrenaline and, though she hadn't eaten since breakfast on the day her family had died, she felt as if she could destroy a thousand Akuma.

She let fly her arrow. It hit the circular Akuma right in its doll-like face. The Akuma exploded on impact and another appeared in its place. Marie took this one out with his Noël Organ, but as this Akuma's soul rose to the afterlife, another one appeared. This pattern continued until all five Akuma were destroyed.

After the battle, Annabelle and Marie were drenched in sweat and breathing hard. They looked at each other and both of them knew that they had to get out of France, and soon. Marie departed from Annabelle's room to gather the rest of his things and Annabelle examined the various cuts and bruises that she had obtained from the broken windows.

They weren't very deep, but they were numerous and they began to sting as the effects of the adrenaline wore off. She didn't have to change because, well, she had nothing to change into. So, she waited for Marie to come get her.

He appeared in her doorway, which now had shards of glass embedded in it, and they promptly left the inn.

It was daylight by the time they reached the pier and, as Marie and Annabelle boarded the ship, they noticed that it was unusually quiet on the way to the pier. Marie became suspicious of everyone on the ship.

However, throughout the trip, no Akuma appeared and, upon arriving in London, Annabelle began to ease up a bit. Marie wasn't convinced just yet that the coast was clear. He kept his ears open for signs of an attack.

They disembarked from the ship and met with a man in a white long-coat much like the one the traitor, Limae, had worn. He had pale skin and violet eyes. He was tall and slender with white-blond hair and he carried the same radio-like device that Limae had carried.

"Hello," the man said in a light, moderately cheerful voice, "My name's Milo and I am the Finder who will escort you both back to Headquarters."

Annabelle leaned over toward Marie and, whispering almost inaudibly, yet barely loud enough that the tall blind man could still hear it, she asked, "What's a Finder?"

"Maybe you should ask him." Marie whispered back at her.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"It's not my business. Besides," he smiled, "I wouldn't know what a Finder's duties are. After all, I've never been one."

"Fine, I'll ask him." Annabelle said, giving in to the man's suggestion.

Meanwhile, Milo stood there, looking at the two of them in confusion and wondered what in the world they could possibly be talking about.

"Alright then," the albino man said, snapping out of his stupor, "Let's proceed. Shall we?"

As they walked up the streets of London, Annabelle asked the Finder about what exactly it was that a Finder did. He told her that it was his job as a Finder to investigate stories of places that could possibly contain Innocence and bring his findings back to Headquarters so that they could send an Exorcist to retrieve it. He was also tasked with protecting the Innocence until the Exorcist got to it as well as occasionally leading the Exorcist to the site of the Innocence.

Annabelle was intrigued by this. She wondered what exactly Innocence was, but she decided to hold her question until they reached their destination. She was also far too intrigued by the way Milo talked. She had never been outside of Poitiers and the only people she had ever known who talked differently than her and her mother were Jakob and Clara, both of which had similar accents to Milo's, yet Clara's was a bit more subtle while Milo's was a bit more pronounced.

She also noticed that Marie had an accent. She wondered where his was from. She also wondered if, to them, she too had some sort of accent. If she did, she couldn't hear it and she then found herself wondering why she couldn't hear it. Or her mother's for that matter. To others, thoughts like this would've been trivial, but to Annabelle's seven-year-old mind, every little thing in the world was a wonder and needed to be investigated.

After several hours on foot, with many breaks in between, the trio had arrived at a large, castle-like structure that sat atop a mountain which towered over the clouds. As they came to the gate, Annabelle noticed that their appeared to be a face embossed into it.

_Things just keep getting weirder and weirder,_ Annabelle thought to herself as they approached.

"Ah, Milo, Marie!" a voice from nowhere said, "You've already brought our newest little Exorcist. She's so cute too! Almost as cute as my Lenalee."

"Where's that voice coming from?" Annabelle asked, looking around for a person who might have been speaking loud enough to resonate throughout the entire courtyard.

"Loudspeaker," Marie said simply.

_What's a loudspeaker?_ Annabelle asked herself. However, she figured that the answer to said question would only confuse her even more than she already was, so she kept it to herself.

"Alrighty now," the voice said cheerfully, "We will now commence with the examination. Gatekeeper!"

The face on the gate seemed to jump out of the wall at Annabelle. As it looked at her, its eyes shot out yellow beams of light. She didn't feel anything, but the light was so bright, it was blinding. The light disappeared and the face spoke.

"All things check out," it said, "You may enter."

They came through the large entryway and entered a room with stone walls and a marble-tiled floor. From the ceiling hung a number of wooden chandeliers whose candles were burning brightly, providing the lighting. Annabelle thought it looked like a more inviting version of the Beast's castle from the story her mother used to tell her when she was younger. At the thought of her mother, tears came to her eyes. She didn't cry, however, because she wanted to show her new friends that she wasn't a total wimp, and, as far as she understood from her stories, warriors didn't cry.

At the other end of the room, there was a spiral, stone staircase, at the bottom of which stood a tall man wearing a white coat with black lining and the silver cross-like symbol she'd seen on Marie and that General Tiedoll guy. As the group ventured closer to him, Annabelle noticed that he also wore pink slippers and a pink and white beret. He had long, black hair tied back in a low ponytail and wore half-hexagonal rimmed glasses.

"Hello," the man said, and Annabelle realized that he was the voice from the loudspeaker, "My name is Komui Lee. Welcome to the Black Order."

He had a warm, yet slightly mischievous look about him and he smiled as he looked at the trio. Annabelle wondered whether that smile meant he was going to hug her, or that he was going to tear her to pieces.

"Come this way please," he said in a sing-song voice.

He led them up the staircase and into what looked like a modern-day operating room. Its walls were still made of stone, but there was an IV drip and an operating table as well as various other hospital supplies. Komui walked up to the area behind the table and bent over as if he were looking for something.

"Marie, Milo, you two may leave now." As he rose, Komui directed his attention to Annabelle and said as the two men left, "Now then, you can put that little toy bow on the table and we'll make it into a remarkable weapon!"

"Annabelle looked at this man like he was crazy, with good reason too for, in his arms, he held and extremely large drill and upon his head he wore a yellow hard-hat. He was grinning like a madman and Annabelle became extremely concerned for her favorite toy.

As Komui advanced closer to the toy with his ridiculously and impossibly large drill, she screamed.

After Komui had finished, Annabelle's toy bow looked completely different than it had been before. She didn't know how, but Komui had totally transformed it from a toy to a deadly, Akuma-killing weapon. It looked as it had when she'd first activated it, only instead of its body being silver, it was now black. The string, however, retained its silvery sheen.

Now, Komui was leading her to the heart of the Order where they stood on a square platform with a bunch of levers and switches on the far side. The pony-tailed man approached these as he and Annabelle boarded. He pushed a red button and the platform elevated. Annabelle, who had never seen this sort of technology before, was a tad bit shocked by the whole ordeal, so shocked and amazed in fact, that she couldn't even focus on what the crazy Chinese man had to say.

After a few minutes, the platform stopped and Annabelle found herself looking up at five men in golden, high-backed chairs. Their faces were shrouded in shadow and they each wore black robes decorated in gold. She noticed that each one looked like an exact replica of the next and, consequently, found herself wondering if they acted the same as well.

"Those," Komui said, "Are the Great Generals. They're here to explain why you're here and what your duties are."

"Why can't you?" Annabelle questioned.

"Well, I'm not authorized to."

"Oh."

It was then that the Great General furthest to the left spoke.

"Welcome, child," he said, "To the Black Order." His voice was deep and resonant. It echoed throughout the cavernous room.

"These are your last days of fun and games," the second General said.

"You are familiar with the story of Noah's flood?" the third asked. Annabelle nodded and the General continued on with the story. "Long ago, in the time before Noah's flood, there existed a substance called Innocence that was designed to fight off the dark forces of he who never dies, the Maker of what you know as the Akuma. Only a select few could use the Innocence and they were to be known as sacred apostles of God, now known as Exorcists."

"These people," continued the fourth Great General, "Fought bravely against the Maker, and barely succeeded, causing the three days of darkness known as Noah's flood. Much later on in time, a message from our ancient ancestors was found inscribed upon a golden cube. It spoke of this battle and the three days of darkness and of the substance known as Innocence, of which there were one hundred and nine pieces scattered across the world. It instructed us to gather the Innocence before the Maker could destroy them all. Shortly after, the Black Order was formed and, today, you, child, stand before us wishing to be an Exorcist."

Annabelle was awed by the story. She never could understand why God had decided to wipe out all but one person on the planet in a giant flood. She always wondered why He couldn't have just wiped out those with evil in their hearts. Now she knew that it wasn't God that was responsible for the Flood, nor was the Flood a flood at all. She wondered what other lies she and the rest of the world had been told their entire lives and very much wanted to find out more about them. She was just getting to thinking about where she might find a library in this place when the General on the far right spoke to her.

"It is your job, child, as an Exorcist, to gather the Innocence so that the days of Darkness will not come again. Are you ready to accept such a responsibility at such a young age?"

"I guess so," She replied, figuring that she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter considering that she had no home to go back to and no life behind her.

"Then you must be examined," the first General said.

Then they all spoke at once. "Hevlaska," they called, and, as the word rang throughout the room, Annabelle began to wonder what it meant.

She didn't have to wonder for long, however, as, at that moment, a large, silvery-green being appeared. She, for it was female, seemed to have no eyes, only a nose and a mouth for a face, and looked as if she were covered in the same substance that her bow was made of. She, to Annabelle, was beautiful, but when the strange being grabbed her, she became frightened by it.

What had grabbed ahold of her wasn't a hand, per say, for this being had no hands, but a semi-transparent, tentacle-like limb. The being called Hevlaska lifted Annabelle to her eyeless face. Though Annabelle was afraid, she did not struggle, for she feared that if she did, it would only make things worse for her. Instead, she stared in awe at the strange entity in front of her as her head was touched to its. Then, it began to speak.

"Three percent," Hevlaska began, "Fifteen percent. Twenty-five percent. Forty-two percent. Seventy-five percent. Eighty-two percent. Eighty-five percent. Eighty-eight percent. Eighty-nine percent."

Hevlaska paused, as if considering something. Everyone in the room waited for her to speak again, anticipating the end result of the test.

"Eighty-nine percent is the maximum synchro rate the girl can achieve," Hevlaska said. She set Annabelle back down on the platform and spoke again. "Annabelle Hale, the day will come eight will be needed to assist the Fool on his errand from God. You, the Hunter, must unite the Storyteller, the Warrior, he Reaper, the Piper, the Thief, the Mercenary, and the Crusader before the passing of the eclipse, lest the world fall before the Heart's Traitor.

Annabelle had no idea what it meant, nor any idea of how to fulfill the words of Hevlaska, but, somehow, she knew that she was destined to be something more than she'd ever hoped, or wanted, to be. She looked back at Komui. He looked amazed, awestruck, even, but he flipped a switch and the platform slowly lowered itself.

"I'll get someone to show you around now," he said as they exited the platform.

That night, Annabelle lay awake in her bed, thinking. Komui had gotten one of his underlings, a short, corpulent man named Tapp, to show her around the castle. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking of how proud her mama and papa would be if they could see her now.

She didn't know why, but she still thought of Jakob as her real father. Probably because he'd treated her like she was is daughter. She missed them both dearly and hoped they were happy together in the afterlife.

As the night moved on, she turned her thoughts to her real father, General Cross Marion. She wondered where he was, what he was doing. She wondered if he wanted her as a daughter and she desperately wanted to know what he was like. Eventually, lost in her wonderings, she fell asleep and began to dream.

In her dream, she was back at home, sitting in the library. Only, she wasn't exactly herself. She was smaller than normal. In fact, she was a mouse. Her papa came into the library with her mama. He was angry about something and had a knife in his hand. As she watched him, he peeled off her mother's skin with its serrated edge.

Annabelle was horrified, but she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't even cry out. Her papa pulled her mother's skin over his own and came toward her.

There was a flash and she was in her mother's room. She was still a mouse, but her mother looked normal. She looked just fine. Then, she shed her skin and became a large, grey, snake. Annabelle was frightened of snakes and to see her mother, her own beloved mother, turn into her worst fear was more than she could take. Once again, she tried to scream, but all that came out was a squeak. She tried to run, but she was frozen. The snake lunged at her, mouth open, and suddenly, all Annabelle could see was blackness.

She awoke, shaking. She was drenched in a cold sweat and her throat hurt, as if she'd been screaming for hours. Then again, she probably had. She looked around her room and began to weep. She remembered how, every time she'd had a nightmare, her mama and papa would comfort her and tell her that it was only a dream, that she shouldn't worry about it. But her mama and papa weren't here. They were both dead and that was what had triggered the nightmare in the first place.

Too afraid to go back to sleep and too unsure of her knowledge of the Order's halls to explore them, she grabbed her bow, the only thing left from her home, held it close to her heart, and cried. She cried for her mother, Claudia, who had been so sweet and wise. She cried for the man who had raised her, Jakob, who had treated her like his own daughter, even knowing that she wasn't. She cried for the fact that her real father had pretty much abandoned her mother, which Annabelle harbored a great deal of resentment towards. She cried for the servants who had given their lives to defend her against the creature that had formerly been their master. Most of all, though, she cried because she was alone. Alone in this world with no family or friends, alone in her mind, heart, and soul. Alone in the dark of the night, in this unfamiliar place with no one to confide in but the bow that had once been her favorite toy. All through the night, she cried until, finally, she fell asleep and cried no more.


	4. Rivals

**Chapter Four**

The next morning, Annabelle awoke to find a new outfit sitting by her bed. With it came a note, which Annabelle picked up first. It said, in big, curvy handwriting, "Welcome to the Black Order. From: The Science Division."

She looked at the outfit. It was a black jacket with silver decorations and the symbol of the Order on it, a black skirt, a white undershirt, and black shoes and knee-high socks. She pulled off her dress, which, by now, was quite dirty and torn, and cast it aside. She pulled on first, the undershirt, then the skirt, then the socks and shoes, and finally, the jacket. She had no mirror in the room she'd been provided with, so she couldn't look at herself and see if she liked how it looked on her. Regarding this fact, she exited the room and wandered in the direction in which she thought the cafeteria was.

It turned out that she'd gone the wrong way and was now officially lost. She panicked for a bit, but froze when a voice asked, "You lost kid?"

She turned around and saw a boy about her age, maybe a little older, standing in front of her. He had long, blue-black hair tied up in a high ponytail and dark blue, almond-shaped eyes. He carried with him a katana, which Annabelle thought we was way too young to be carrying, and he looked like he was pissed off at someone. She became nervous.

"No!" Annabelle shouted. "This is exactly where I wanna be!"

"Oh," the boy asked, "And where would this be exactly?"

"Uh," Annabelle started, but the boy interrupted her.

"You have no idea do you?"

"So!"

"So, I hate people like you who just wander around without a plan and have no idea where they're going or what they're doing. You wouldn't last five minutes on the battlefield!"

Annabelle was angered by this comment. "Hey, I've only been here for like a day, okay! It's not like I have a miniature mapmaker in my head making maps for me! Jeez!"

"You wanna prove me wrong?" the boy asked.

"Maybe I will! I hate stupid jerks like you who think they know everything and that they're better than everyone in the world! My mother just died!"

"I don't wanna hear your sob story! If you're gonna whine about it then go home!"

"Why you-"

Just then, Annabelle did something she knew she'd regret later. She reached for her bow, but then realized that she'd forgotten it in her room! The boy unsheathed his katana and called its name, "Mugen," and was now charging toward her.

_Oh shit,_ she thought, then, as an afterthought, _Clara would have slapped me if she'd have heard that last thought._

With that, she began to run as fast as she could and hoped that the boy was noble enough not to hit a girl. The boy chased her through hallway after hallway until she ran smack-dabbed into someone. She looked up and saw Marie, the man from earlier, standing in front of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "I heard someone screaming and thought it might be you."

"Help me," was all that Annabelle could get out before the long-haired boy came screaming around the corner.

"Get your cowardly ass back here!" he yelled, raising his sword.

"Kanda!" Marie shouted, "Do not fight your new ally!"

"She started it," Kanda said, grumpily.

"Oh that is such bullshit!" Annabelle shouted.

"Annabelle, don't mind Kanda," Marie explained, "He's just always angry. It seems he knows no other emotion."

"So it does."

"I'll get you later," Kanda threatened.

"Thanks." Annabelle said to Marie as Kanda stomped off.

"Anytime," Marie replied.

"By the way, would you mind pointing me in the direction of the cafeteria?"

"Actually, I was just heading over there myself. It's this way."

That being said, Marie and Annabelle moved toward the correct pathway to the dining hall.

They arrived at the large, table-filled room and approached the counter. As they drew near it, Annabelle noticed that there were more of the white-uniformed Finders like Limae and Milo sitting around a table in the back.

"Why are their uniforms white?" she asked.

The large blind man thought about this for a second. Their uniforms are white to distinguish them from us Exorcists I believe." He grinned, "Other than that, I don't know."

"Well," an enthusiastic male voice said, Aren't you just the most adorable thing in the whole wide world?"

Annabelle looked up at the counter to see a man –or what she thought looked somewhat like a man– with long purple hair twisted into two, thick strands; tan skin, and triangular-rimmed sunglasses. He was leaning out of the window that was connected to the counter and holding chopsticks and a frying pan. Annabelle noticed that he was wearing all pink except for a white apron, which he wore over his clothing. He was quite muscular and, as Annabelle quickly found, had absolutely no boundaries when it came to personal space.

"Don't be frightened," Marie whispered, "It's just the way Jerry is."

"What do you wanna eat?" Jerry asked sweetly, oblivious to the fact that the two Exorcists in front of him were talking about him.

"Hmmm…." Annabelle said, pondering over what she could possibly have, "What is there to eat?"

"Anything your little heart desires." Jerry said happily. "By the way, what's your name sweetie?"

"Uh….Annabelle…. May I have a baguette and some raspberry preservatives? Oh, and to drink, I'll have orange juice _s'il vous plait?"_

"Ooohie! Look at the manners on this little cutie! I almost wanna pinch those cute little cheeks! If you ever need anything, just come ask me!"

_He seems to have a smile permanently plastered onto his face,_ Annabelle thought as she smiled politely at the Exorcists' head chef, as her mother had taught her to do when meeting someone new. At the thought of her mother, Annabelle almost dropped her smile, but then Jerry turned around and placed long roll of fresh-baked bread and the container of home-made preservatives in front of her with a "Here yah go sweetie," and she picked it back up again. She walked over to an empty table, sat down, and began to partake of her breakfast.

_It's better than Mama's personal chef Xavier's baguettes, _she thought, and like a kid who hadn't eaten in days, she wolfed it all down in minutes. She was just getting to her orange juice when a girl about her age seemingly materialized in front of her.

"Hi," she said, sounding way too happy for her own good, "My name's Lenalee Lee!" She smiled, "I'm Komui's little sister."

Annabelle watched as the girl stared at her. It was as if the girl expected her to joyously respond to her introduction. As Annabelle stared at this girl, she took in all of her physical features, just in case she'd need to find her later. This girl had long hair, as dark as her brother's, but tied into two extremely long pigtails; she had whitish skin and purple, almond-shaped eyes. She wore the same uniform as Annabelle, the only difference being that she wore thigh-high socks and slip-on shoes. Annabelle immediately didn't like the way this Lenalee girl kept staring at her as she ate, it was just plain awkward.

"So what's your name?" Lenalee asked.

"Annabelle," Annabelle said hurriedly.

"Oh cool!" Lenalee smiled, "I'm just going to call you Bella. Yeah, that sounds pretty. Is that okay with you?"

"No," Annabelle snapped. She hated being called Bella. She remembered that her aunt had called her that after reading some book about fake vampire fairies once. She'd snapped at her that day. She hated the name. It made her think of a girl who couldn't defend herself from anything at all, a girl who had to rely on a man to save her, a girl who got squeamish at the sight of a little blood. "It's either Anna, Annabelle, or nothing at all."

"Okay," Lenalee said, obviously not paying attention to Annabelle's opinion. The little Chinese girl was completely lost in the thoughts of making a new friend.

Annabelle finished her orange juice and got up to take her dishes back to the dirty dish rack. As she stood up, a voice came onto the intercom.

"Annabelle, please report to Chief Komui's office," a male voice said.

"Ooh!" Lenalee said excitedly, "I hope we get a mission together Bella!"

Annabelle had had enough of Lenalee's excessive peppiness by then, "If we were to get a mission together, don't you think they'd have called _both_ of our names?" she asked rudely.

With that, she left in a huff, but then realized that she had absolutely no idea of where she was going.

"Need a hand," a pitchy boy's voice asked. It sounded as if it were in the process of changing, as a boy's voice normally does when he is approaching his teenage years.

Annabelle turned around to see a boy, who looked a few years older than her, with messy brown hair and brown eyes. In fact, Annabelle thought he looked vaguely wolfish what with his sharp teeth and mischievous grin. She also noted that he had purple triangles painted under his eyes. She thought him rather strange for this.

"Can you point me in-" Annabelle started.

"The direction of Komui's office, "the boy finished for her, "Yeah sure. It's this way. I'll walk you there."

As they began to walk in direction of Komui's office, the wolfish boy asked her, "You're Annabelle right?"

"Yeah," Annabelle said, "That's me. But how did you know my name?"

"Marie told me about you. He and I are best friends. We're both apprentices under General Tiedoll. Kanda too."

Annabelle grimaced at the mention of her previous attacker's name. _How can someone as nice as Tiedoll take on someone as rude as Kanda as an apprentice, _she asked herself. She was about to ask the boy about it, but thought better of it and continued walking.

Once they'd reached Komui's door, the boy stopped her. "If you need anything, ask me," he said. "And by the way, the name's Daisya Barry." He smiled as he ran off into the direction they'd just come from.

"Thanks," Annabelle shouted back at him. Then, she opened the door to Komui's office and stepped inside.


	5. Suspicions, Komui's Hunch

**While typing this chapter, I'd realized that in the previous version, I'd spelled Yeegar's name wrong and gotten his country of origin wrong. So that is one of the changes I've made to the story.**

**Chapter Five**

The first thing Annabelle thought when she stepped into Komui's office was that a storm must've hit it…hard. All over the floor of the circular room, papers and books were scattered. The room was so cluttered that she couldn't even see the floor. In the center of the room was a desk that was piled high with stacks of papers. In a chair behind the desk sat the crazy Chinese man who had somehow acquired the position of Chief of the Black Order main branch, Komui Lee. Beside the desk stood a brown haired man holding a clipboard. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days, probably because he hadn't. Annabelle had heard Tapp talk about this man. This was Section Leader Reever Wenham.

Sitting in the chairs in front of the desk were two men, one of which Annabelle was able to recognize by his low, bushy ponytail.

"Tiedoll!" Annabelle shouted as she ran forward to give the man, who she had come to admire over the past couple of days, a hug.

He stood to receive the hug with a large smile on his kind face. The other man stood as well. He looked to be older than Tiedoll with long, shoulder-length white hair and mustache. He had a brown ring around his head that sat just above his brow and he was shorter than Tiedoll by about a head and a half. He wore a black poncho with the golden Rose Cross symbol (Annabelle had recently found out that that was what it was called) of a general on his right breast; black pants, and black boots. He looked as kind and patient as Tiedoll, maybe even more, if that was even possible. However, he had an air of strictness about him as well, the air of a teacher.

"Annabelle," Komui said to her, "This is General Yeegar. He will be your new teacher, so you should get acquainted with him."

"It is a pleasure to meet you child," the man said cheerfully, "I look forward to working with you." He smiled and held out his hand for her to shake.

Annabelle was disappointed that she wouldn't be mentored by Tiedoll, but, nonetheless, she smiled at the older man and shook his hand, accepting him as her teacher.

"You're lucky," Tiedoll told her, "General Yeegar hasn't taken on an apprentice in ten years."

"Yes," Komui said, "You are quite lucky indeed. In fact, you can begin training with him tomorrow. He's leaving for Germany in the morning." He smiled his infamous ear-to-ear grin, "I'm sure you'll have all sorts of fun adventures while searching for Innocence."

"Is that all?" Annabelle asked him.

"Yes," Komui said, "You are free to do as you please for now."

"Okay."

Annabelle left the four men alone and went back toward the cafeteria. She knew she could find her room from there. From her room, she would grab her bow, in case she met Kanda again, and then maybe try to find the library. _Yeah,_ she thought, _that's a good plan. Now, I just need to find someone to show me where the library is. Maybe Marie or Daisya could. But where are they?_ She'd ask Jerry later.

Back in his office, Komui, Yeegar, and Tiedoll were discussing matters of great importance. Komui had sent Reever out to go monitor the science lab and finish up his paperwork, leaving the three men alone and fairly safe from eavesdroppers.

Kevin," Tiedoll said, addressing Yeegar by his first name, "You told us you wouldn't take on another apprentice after what happened to the last one. Why the change of heart?"

"You see Froi," Yeegar said to Tiedoll, "I believe this one is going to be different. She has something my former apprentices didn't."

"What would that be?" Komui asked.

"For one thing, she trusts herself and her instincts. Also, the bond with her Anti-Akuma weapon is quite strong for one so young. It's the strongest I've seen in a new Accommodator since…" Yeegar drifted off.

"I know what you mean," Tiedoll said, "I see it too. She could be a general with some more training. The youngest one we've had since…." He too drifted off.

"Cross," Komui finished for them, "And yes, I've suspected it as well. Everything, even the way she looks, resembles him in some way. The major differences are the age at which they became Accommodators and the color of their eyes."

"Yes, you weren't there when Cross and Judgment were bound together, Komui," Yeegar said, remembering the day as he did so, "But I remember it well. He was a part of the Science Division before the Innocence chose him to be an Exorcist. He was in his early twenties I believe."

"Ah yes," Tiedoll said, reminiscing with the older man, "I remember. I was quite young then myself."

"Yes. In regard to Annabelle though, that prophecy that Hevlaska made earlier, it makes me wonder where her talents will take her. She will need someone who can facilitate that talent, help her bond with the Innocence, and grow stronger."

"And that's why _you _chose her," Tiedoll said.

"Take no offense friend, for you are too attached to her already. Who knows what you would do to protect her. You are far younger than I, and therefore more suited for the fight ahead. I do not have more time in this world and I am thus more suited to teaching rather than fighting. I would be no help to you in the fight against the Earl if I were on the battlefield with you."

Tiedoll smiled, but it was more bitter than sweet, "I understand old friend," he said, "And you're right. I've not known her long, but I'm beginning to think of her in the same sense that I think of the boys and Marie, as if she were my own child. If she were more experienced, like Kanda and Daisya, I would take her, but she's not. You're right to take her."

"Yes," Komui agreed, "The prophecy intrigues me as much as any other sensible man. Yeeger, Tiedoll, do you think that her presence might bring-"

"We mustn't think of that at the moment Komui," Tiedoll said, "There's not chance that she's the one they're looking for."

"Froi is right," Yeegar added, "We cannot think of that possibility. Their appearance would mean that they are increasing their efforts to find the object we seek. Should that happen and they succeed, then this time the world would be destroyed beyond repair."

"Yes," Komui said nodding his head, "Quite right. Now, about Annabelle's similarities to a certain AWOL general. Do you think that she could possibly be his…?" Komui drifted off, lost in thought.

"His…what?" Tiedoll asked inquisitively.

"Never mind," Komui said, dismissing the topic. "It's all just a coincidence. You are both dismissed."

The two aging generals moved toward the door to the office. Tiedoll left first, followed by Yeegar, who winked conspiratorially at Komui. The tall Chinese man found himself wondering just how much more the old man knew.

He stood up, paced around his desk, and began to mumble to himself.

"Could it be," he questioned to the ceiling, "That she is…" he fell silent, "Of course not, silly me." He laughed to himself, "But then there is still the possibility that she is…" again, silence. He stood by the door to his office and put his finger to his cheek, thinking. "She couldn't possibly be General Cross's daughter! My head hurts from all this thinking! Where's my Lenalee? I need another cup of coffee."

That being said, he marched out of his office, blue coffee mug with the pink rabbit on it in his hand, in search of his beloved baby sister.

As it turned out, Lenalee had followed Annabelle and that Daisya kid to her big brother's office without them even knowing. When Annabelle went into the office and Daisya came back her way, she ducked into a nearby empty broom closet. After he had walked past, she approached the office door, put her ear to it, and listened. What she heard was boring her to death.

It was all stuff about how Annabelle was going to train with the famous General Yeegar and how she would be leaving tomorrow morning. _Lucky,_ Lenalee thought. Oh how she wished to get out of Headquarters and go on a mission! However, her brother was way too protective of her to let her leave at the age she was at.

"Not until you're thirteen," he'd said.

Then, she heard the door handle move and she quickly ducked into the broom closet again. This time, Annabelle and Reever walked by. No doubt Reever was going off to do something that her brother was supposed to do a long time ago, like paperwork.

When they'd passed, she resumed her post at the door. At first, it was a normal conversation, small talk really, about how talented Annabelle was. Then, they started talking about a prophecy of sorts. After that, her brother started to say something that may have been remotely interesting, but he stopped, as if he could see her through the closed door. Finally, he dismissed the other two men, which was her cue to hide again.

Through the crack in the door, Lenalee could see that the two other men in Komui's office were Generals Tiedoll and Yeegar. She had to know more about this. She remembered that, ever since their parents had died and she'd been taken to the Order, Komui had developed a habit of mumbling to himself al of the details he thought that others shouldn't know. So, she took up her post at the door again and waited.

Sure enough, her big brother was talking to himself softly. It was barely audible through the thick wooden door and Lenalee had to strain herself to hear it, All she managed to get out of her brother's quiet ramblings was "…General Cross's daughter."

_So that's who she is!_ Lenalee thought, remembering some of the red-head's physical features, _I knew there was something weird about her!_

She heard the door handle jiggle and she nimbly dashed toward the empty broom closet. As she watched him walk past, Komui called her name, but she didn't dare come out of hiding until he'd passed by completely and his footsteps had faded down the corridor.

After spending all day in the library, Annabelle was quite tired. So, she meandered sleepily back to her room for some rest. She plopped down on her bed, not even bothering to undress, and fell asleep. After all, in the morning, she would set out for Germany.

In her dream, she was flying, high above the clouds. As she looked down at the ground, she realized she was flying over the ocean. She gazed deeper and began to fall, head first, toward the blanket of watery blue death. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for impact, but when she opened them again, she saw no water, none of her blood floating around, nor any sea creatures surrounding her dead body.

In fact, she saw nothing, only whiteness surrounded her. Then, the scenery changed and she was once again face to face with her mother's monstrous form. She tried running, but when she looked at her feet, she saw that they were shackled to the floor. She tried screaming, but she found herself mute. There was nothing she could do. She glimpsed her bow out of the corner of her eye, but it was on the other side of the room. Once again, she closed her eyes and braced for impact, but again, none came.

Now, she was in a world that was barren and desolate. The buildings were demolished, the sun was dim and red, the sky was a reddish orange, and a crimson sea surrounded the land. As Annabelle looked at it more closely, she realized that it was a sea of blood. She could see the silhouette of a figure standing by the cliff. Curious about who would be alive in such a world, Annabelle moved toward it. The figure was a woman of average height with a slender build. She had short, black hair and whitish skin, but what Annabelle found most surprising was that she wore the uniform of an Exorcist.

Annabelle moved to get a better view of the woman's face, but she already had a feeling about who it was. _Lenalee,_ thought Annabelle. Her suspicions were confirmed by half of the woman's face. The other half was a monstrous sight. It was an Akuma's face, sad, desolate, and doll-like. Annabelle could see that both sides of Lenalee's face were crying and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Then, at that moment, the pale, Chinese woman took a step forward, towards the edge, then another, and finally, plunged feet first into the Bloody Sea like an angel that had lost all hope.


	6. On the Road Again

**Chapter Six**

Annabelle snapped awake and found that she could hear someone knocking on her door. She sat up, climbed out of bed, and opened the door. She found a Finder with brown hair and grey eyes waiting for her. He was short and stout and looked to be of Germanic descent.

"Hello," he said, his accent was thick, "I am Gunther. I will be your Finder on this mission."

"Okay," Annabelle said, not quite entirely sure of whether or not Gunther was trustworthy. After all, the first Finder she'd trusted while she was alone with him had nearly facilitated her death.

"Right this way child," he said to her and pointed down the hallway.

The further they walked down the stone corridor, the more she remembered that this was the same hall she'd walked down when she'd first come here. _At least I'm becoming more familiar with the place,_ she thought to herself. She smiled as she realized this and felt as if the castle had almost wholly accepted her as a resident.

They reached the gateway where they saw a carriage pulled by four chestnut horses. It had two doors and black curtains over the windows. Standing in front of it was her new mentor, General Yeegar. She had hoped that Tiedoll would take her, but she understood that he already had his hands full training Marie, Daisya, and Kanda. As Annabelle approached him, the old man smiled sincerely and opened the door to the carriage. Annabelle hopped inside and sat down. Yeegar followed suit and then began to speak.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked cordially.

"_Oui, s'il vous plait,_" Annabelle replied, smiling politely as the General handed her a pastry that had been pre-packed for them.

They were silent for a while as the carriage moved onward toward the ferry docks, but when Annabelle finished eating, the elderly general addressed her again.

"My child," he said, "What we are about to do is dangerous. There will be many Akuma there and the level of combat will be much higher than you're used to."

"I don't mind," Annabelle said, "Whether I live or die, that is. If I live, I get to be an Exorcist. If I die, I get to see mama and papa again."

Yeegar was quite shocked to hear a remark such as that from one so young. Then, he remembered what Tiedoll had told him.

He'd said that she'd lost her home, her friends, and her family and would probably use that anger as fuel for defeating the Earl and destroying the Akuma. The aging general understood what it meant to lose those that you love, then again, that was part of being an Exorcist. He remembered how, before he became an Exorcist, one of his students was made into an Akuma. He was powerless to save the others and, as he thought of this, his eyes began to water.

"Well then," he said, "I guess we are quite prepared for it then. I just wanted to warn you of the danger. Now, I shall tell you what it is we are after. We have found an old castle where it is aid that a haunted suit of armor exists."

"Really," Annabelle, having read several books for a seven-year-old girl, said, "A haunted suit of armor? That's the best you can come up with?"

"This isn't a joke child. The suit may be possessed by Innocence."

"I heard the Great Generals mention Innocence, but they never really told me what it was."

"Innocence is the substance that makes up the base of your bow. From it, we can forge many different Anti-Akuma weapons. It is the key to defeating the Millennium Earl.

"Millennium Earl?"

"Yes, he is the creator of the Akuma, the master of Darkness, the bane of our very existence. He will stop at nothing to destroy all 109 pieces of Innocence."

"Oh. Okay."

"Now then, in order to defeat the Earl, we Exorcists must gather up all 109 pieces of Innocence before he destroys them and find an Accommodator for them. This is precisely what we are doing today."

They talked for a long while about Annabelle and her interest. Eventually, Annabelle asked the general about himself. His face contorted into a look of much sorrow and pain as he pondered on how to voice his grief. He had never really told anyone about the losses he had experienced in his past. All he'd told the Order was that he used to be a teacher.

"He opened his mouth to speak, but, as soon as he did so, the carriage stopped and the Finder, Gunther, knocked upon the door.

"General Yeegar," he said, "We've arrived."

"You mean I missed looking at the Channel?" Annabelle shouted.

"I'm afraid so child." Yeegar said to her. Turning to the corpulent Finder, he said, "Very well then, it's time to get to work. Annabelle, your first lesson is about to begin." He smiled at her as they disembarked from the carriage.

Annabelle's eyes widened as she beheld the magnificent castle. It was huge and extremely old with ivy clinging to the nearly crumbling stone walls. It stood in a large, dark forest, which Annabelle thought would be enough to terrify anyone before they'd even made it to the castle, and was surrounded by what was once a deep moat. The moat was quite dried up by now, but the trench it left was deep enough to incapacitate anyone who fell into it. The drawbridge was partially ajar and hanging on by one, rusted chain.

General Yeegar scrutinized the structure, the drawbridge in particular, and contemplated how to bring it down.

"Alright Annabelle," Yeegar said finally, "Let's see how your aim is. Can you aim for that rusty chain?"

"I think so," Annabelle confirmed.

"Good, now aim for the chain and shoot."

"Okay," Annabelle said, drawing back the string of her bow. She aimed for the chain, focusing on it with all her might, and let fly the arrow. It struck true and the chain broke, letting the old, rattling bridge fall onto the ground in front of them.

"Splendid job child!" Yeegar exclaimed, "Though it seems your bow does most of the work for you. Your aim is good, but it will be better once we practice a little more. When we get back into town, I'll get you an ordinary bow to practice with when we aren't traveling or fighting Akuma."

Annabelle looked at the old man and smiled her approval of him. She had had her doubts at first, but this Yeegar guy was slowly growing on her each minute.

"Shall we?" He asked, smiling, and they crossed the drawbridge and entered the castle, leaving Gunther to guard the carriage.

The inside of the castle was just as old and run down as the outside of it. There was ivy growing on the walls, there was dust coating the floor, and there were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. It was enormous! Annabelle had thought that her mother's mansion was big, but this was possibly three times as large.

As master and apprentice moved forward, Annabelle asked Yeegar, "How the heck are we gonna find a haunted suit of armor in this place? There's got to be dozens of suits of armor here so how are we gonna tell the haunted one from the normal ones?"

"I expect the haunted one will be the only one moving," Yeegar said smiling.

"I get _that_! But we've gotta search this big old castle for it. That'll take forever!"

"Then consider this your next lesson, patience."

"Patience?"

"Yes, patience. An Exorcist may journey for days on end just to find Innocence that may not even be there. During the long trips, you'll have to be patient in order to keep peace with your teammates, whom you may not get along with so well."

"But I don't have any teammates. I'm your only apprentice."

"Yes, but the time may come when I am no longer in this world. When that time comes, you'll be assigned to another general who has many apprentices and you will have to cooperate with them. Also, if you yourself ever become a general, you will have to teach your students and put up with their impatience."

"I guess," Annabelle said, giving up the argument. "But you won't be leaving me for a long time right?"

Yeegar smiled at his young apprentice and said, "Yes, I won't be leaving for a long time."

Although he was smiling, the old general was worried, for, if what Komui said were to happen and the Noah did return, they would most surely target the generals first. Since he was the eldest and also not quite in the same shape as he used to be, Yeegar feared that he would be their first victim. However, he was not about to break the hopes of a young girl on her first training session. It just wouldn't be right.

They walked on in silence, keeping an eye out for either a moving suit of armor or a large group of Akuma. Finally, it was Annabelle who spotted it. She had caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye and almost missed it at first, but she quickly turned her head and saw it as it dashed down the corridor.

"There it goes!" she exclaimed and raced after it.

"Annabelle wait!" Yeegar shouted, "It could be a trap! Come back child!"

He ran after the girl in a panic, frantically trying to catch up to her, but his old legs fought against his effort. Soon, his young apprentice was out of his sight and racing toward what could be her demise. Yeegar walked along the corridor, hoping that this student's fate wouldn't mirror the fate of his first ones.

As Annabelle chased after the living suit of armor, she noticed that her master was no longer with her. However, she also knew that this was her first mission as an apprentice and she refused to let what could possibly be containing Innocence get away from her, so she continued to run after the suit of armor.

It felt like they'd been running for ages when the old suit of armor stopped. Annabelle only noticed this because she had forgotten to stop and ran right into the rusty old thing.

"Ow!" she yelled, "Stupid piece of scrap metal! It's about time you stopped running!"

She looked past the now seemingly lifeless armor and found that it had hit a dead end merely by chance. Taking advantage of this, Annabelle moved closer to it, climbed its body, and sat on its shoulders.

"Now, let's get this Innocence out of you," she said as she took off its helmet and peered down the neck hole into the darkness.

Just then, there was an explosion not too far from where Annabelle and the suit of armor were.

"General Yeegar!" Annabelle exclaimed, "Wait here you rusted pile of crap, I gotta go help my master."

That being said, she jumped off the suit of armor's shoulders and ran off down the hallway.

Yeegar was exhausted by the time he heard Annabelle's voice echo down the corridor. _I must be getting close,_ he thought. Knowing that fact, Yeegar moved along at a much quicker pace than before.

As he rounded the corner, however, the wall to his left exploded and about a dozen Akuma appeared. It took him by surprise, and because of that, he yelled rather loudly and froze up for a few seconds. However, Yeegar regained his wits and brought out his Anti-Akuma weapon.

Annabelle skirted around the corner and saw her master pull what looked like tow long, heavy iron pendulums from under his poncho. _Those must be his Anti-Akuma weapons,_ Annabelle thought and, although she knew that she should be retrieving the Innocence from the suit of armor before it ran away, she was too curious about her master's weapons to go back and babysit the walking pile of scrap metal she'd left behind.

She watched as her master threw the pendulums at the Akuma that had gathered in complete awe. As he threw them, the pendulums multiplied for an even faster battle. Originally, Annabelle had come to help her master, but, seeing that the old man didn't need it, she raced back to the suit of armor that she hoped was still there.

To her horror, it was not, and Annabelle began to run frantically back down the way she'd come. She should have expected the suit of armor to not be there, it was, after all, a _moving _suit of armor and therefore it would have run away so as not to be captured. However, she had been so engrossed in watching her master fight that she'd forgotten about that fact.

As she manically sprinted down the corridor, back toward her master, she noticed another corridor that she hadn't seen before. Since she hadn't seen the enchanted medieval battle gear run past the battle scene while she was there, nor past her as she ran back to the spot where she'd last left it, she assumed that it had gone down this way.

Sure enough, as she ran down this hallway, the suit of armor ran past her in a frenzy. _What in the world is going on here?_ She asked herself, but found out the answer, and it was not one that she particularly liked. Several Akuma, more so in this group than in the one her master was battling, floated after the suit of armor.

"Why does this always happen to me?" she asked herself aloud.

She reached for her bow, jumped back, drew the silvery string, and, as the greenish-silver arrow appeared, she let it fly right into the center of the Akuma. It exploded instantly as the arrow shot through it. Before any of them had a chance to react, Annabelle had another arrow ready and loosed it into a second Akuma. As one exploded, the others came at her, pointing their cannons in her direction. Annabelle, realizing that she was not yet strong enough to take on all of these Akuma by herself, ran off down the corridor.

_Wow, _she thought as she raced down the dimly lit stone hallway, _Exorcists sure do an awful lot of running. I knew I shouldn't have had that second pastry._ The further she ran, the more fatigued she became until she suddenly tripped on a loose stone in the floor and fell to the ground.

She tried to stand, but found that it was more difficult than it should have been. The Akuma were now upon her and she feared that this would be the end, that she would die a small, lonely child without ever finding her biological father or even becoming a full-fledged Exorcist.

_At least I'll be joining mama and papa, _she thought as the tears came to her eyes. The Akuma took aim at her and were about to fire when, out of nowhere, several iron pendulums impaled many of the manmade beasts, causing them to explode on impact.

"Master!" she exclaimed as she tried, fruitlessly, to stand up again.

"Are you alright Annabelle?" Yeegar asked her.

"I think I may have twisted my right ankle," she replied.

"Well then, it's lucky for you that I've apprehended the suit of armor."

As Annabelle looked past Yeegar's smiling face, she saw that he had indeed captured the suit of armor and was anchoring it to himself with one of the chains from his pendulums.

"Now all we have to do is find out where the Innocence is located within the armor." Yeegar said.

"Well, I already looked down the neck hole," Annabelle said, "And I didn't see it in the chest piece, but that doesn't mean anything."

As Yeegar searched the suit of armor, Annabelle sat where she had fallen and thought about all of the places that the Innocence could possibly be located in. It seemed like hours went by when a thought popped into Annabelle's young mind.

"Maybe the Innocence isn't in the armor itself." she said, "Maybe it's something the armor has been carrying around since it was first made….Like that axe in its hand!"

They hadn't had time to notice it while they were chasing the suit of armor, but now that it had been captured, the both of them did notice an intricately decorated battle axe in its left hand.

"You know what," Yeegar began, "You're probably right"

Yeegar wrenched the axe out of the rusted left gauntlet and, as if by magic, the entire suit of armor fell to the ground in pieces. The old general handed the axe to Annabelle and released the armor pieces from his pendulum chain.

"You wait here," Yeegar instructed her, "I'm going to get Gunther and see if he can carry you back to the carriage."

"Okay," Annabelle said, "It's not like I'm going to go anywhere anyway."

Before he turned away, the old man smiled at her patiently. As he left her alone, Annabelle noticed that Yeegar always seemed to smile every time she made a sarcastic comment. She wondered why, but figured that she could dwell upon that fact later.

It wasn't long before Yeegar had reappeared with Gunther at his side. The Finder scooped her up in his arms as Yeegar picked up the axe and they all made their way back to the carriage to head back into town for the night.


	7. Annabelle's Doubt, Yeegar's Troubles

**Chapter Seven**

By the time the carriage pulled into town, it was well into nightfall, so Gunther found a nice inn that they could stay at for the night.

"A good night's rest should help that ankle of yours," Yeegar had told Annabelle, but, for some reason, she was finding it quite difficult to sleep. Every time she tried, she'd always remember all the times that she'd slipped up on today's mission.

She wondered how Yeegar could've picked someone who'd mad as many careless mistakes as she had on a mission like that for an apprentice. She began to believe that she was not worthy of becoming an Exorcist. She was so depressed by all of this that she began to cry softly so that no one would hear her. Soon, she had cried herself to sleep.

"Aww, what's the matter little girl?" a sinister, yet strangely jolly voice said from out of the blackness of Annabelle's mind. "Are you sad because you messed up the mission? Or are you sad because you miss your mommy and daddy?"

"Both really," Annabelle said, "But who are you?"

"Me?" the voice asked, "I am the Master of Time, the Conqueror of Death, and the Maker of Dreams."

"Well fat lot of good that does me," Annabelle said sarcastically, "'What's your name?' is what I should've asked I guess."

"I have many names, too many to mention in a single sitting, but my name is not important at this time. No, what are important are the two questions I asked earlier. Since you've answered 'yes' to both of them then I will now make you, my dear, an offer."

"Okay, so what is this offer?"

"The people back at the Black Order are quite stiff about their missions and how they're to be carried out you know. If they ever found out about your mistakes, they'd never assign you another mission again. They'd take away your bow, your right to be an Exorcist; they'd make you an outcast. No one wants to be an outcast now do they?"

"I suppose not, but how do I prevent this from happening?"

"That, my dear sweet girl, is the easy part. See, that Finder accompanying you and that master of yours, they both have to report their findings back to the head honcho at the Order. They'll most likely report that you left the Innocence vulnerable to the attack by an Akuma or two and how you nearly go your master killed."

"But I-"

"So, the only way to stop this is to kill the Finder and your master. If you do this, I will let you see you parents again."

"No! I…I can't do that! Yeegar and Gunther have been so kind to me. I can't just kill them!"

"Even if it means being an outcast and never seeing your parents again?"

"I don't care! I can't kill anyone! It's just wrong!"

"What would your mama and papa say if you just gave up the chance to see them again?"

"I don't think they'd mind it if the only way I could ever see them again was to kill someone! I think they'd be proud of me for saying 'no' because my papa told me that if I am to use my bow, I am to use it to defend others, not kill innocents!"

"Have it your way little girl," the voice said, losing the jolly tone, "But mark my words, your master will die, if not by your hands, then by one of mine. So make sure you and that bow of yours are able to defend the old geezer. This won't be the last you hear of me!"

Annabelle awoke to find that Gunther was shaking her in an attempt to wake her up. As soon as he stopped, she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Looking around the small, wooden room, Annabelle noticed that Yeeger was not there.

"Where's master Yeegar?" Annabelle asked hurriedly.

"He's out in town buying provisions for the journey home." Gunther replied, "Why are you all worked up about it all of a sudden?"

"Oh, no reason," Annabelle said, not wanting to worry the poor Finder over something as silly as a nightmare.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Gunther asked, "I made pancakes."

Annabelle, who hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day before, replied, "Okay." And sat down at a small table in the center of the room, making a note to herself to get in the habit of eating three meals a day or else she felt she'd starve to death.

After she had cleared her plate and it had been properly washed, General Yeegar came through the door and asked, "How is your leg doing child?"

"It's better," Annabelle said, "But it still hurts a little."

"That is expected. It may hurt for a few more days at least. You're up for a little training then, I gather?" As he asked his question, he pulled out from under his poncho a brand new longbow made of yew.

Annabelle's eyes grew wide as she beheld the weapon and immediately replied, "Yes sir! Oh and thank you."

"There's no need to child. As your teacher, it is my duty to facilitate your training in whatever way possible." Yeegar replied.

"When can we start?" Annabelle asked excitedly.

"As soon as we get a little further down the road, away from any people."

"Yay!" Annabelle shouted, punching the air and smiling. Though in her head, the previous night's dream was playing over and over, with the last two lines ringing in her ears. "…You and that bow of yours better be able to defend the old geezer! This won't be the last you hear of me!"

They rode on in the carriage until they came to a clearing in the forest. There, they stopped. General Yeegar helped Annabelle out of the carriage and handed her the yew bow and a leather quiver full of arrows. From there, he directed her attention toward a large tree trunk and asked Gunther to draw a target on it using some paint he'd bought in town. As Gunther did so, Yeegar gave Annabelle her instructions.

"This is just a test to see how your aim is without the aid of your Innocence," he said, "Now, I want you to stand near the carriage and aim for the bull's-eye as soon as Gunther gets out of the way. Once you can hit that, we'll move on to the next test."

"Okay," Annabelle said, "I can do that! I used to practice in my yard all the time when my Anti-Akuma weapon was still a toy."

As Gunther moved out of the way, Annabelle took aim at the bull's-eye, drew back the string, and fired her first shot with it. The arrow landed just inches before the tree and stuck itself in the ground. Annabelle was stunned and frustrated at the same time.

"Stupid bow!" she yelled, "It's too hard to pull the string back!"

"Ah," Yeegar said patiently, "It could just be that you aren't yet strong enough to use that new bow. After all, before the Innocence was activated, your bow was about half the size of this one, and it was also only a toy."

"Well, if I can't use this bow, then I can't shoot the target," Annabelle complained, "How am I to get any better at my aim if I can't even use the practice bow?"

"That can be easily remedied. You will have to strengthen your upper body. So, when we get back to Headquarters, I will put together a routine for you so that you will be able to use the practice bow as well as better your use of your original bow. It may take some time, but I will mold you to become one of the greatest Exorcists of all time."

"Does this mean we're done for today?" Annabelle asked disappointedly.

"I'm afraid so my child, for there is little else we can do. Once we get on the road again, you and I can eat our lunch and, hopefully, we'll be at Headquarters by tomorrow."

That being said, Yeegar helped Annabelle back into the carriage and Gunther picked up the reins and drove them back toward home. As they ate their lunches, Annabelle remembered that her master still hadn't answered her question from a few days ago.

"Uh, Master?" Annabelle asked, setting down her sandwich.

"Yes, what is it child?" Yeeger replied.

"You still haven't answered my question from the other day."

"I haven't? And what question would that be?"

"You never told me anything about yourself."

"I haven't? Oh my, how very rude of me. You see, before I became an Exorcist, I was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse."

"It's no wonder you're so patient! I mean, you had to teach every student in that school."

"Oh, there weren't very many of them. It was a small town that I lived in, so there weren't many people."

"What country did you live in?"

"Back in England actually."

"You lived there?"

"Yes, child, I lived here, the parent country to America, Land of the Free. However, even England isn't free of Akuma," Yeegar paused, as if trying to piece together the words of what there was left to tell.

"Well," Annabelle said. She was eager to hear the rest of the story.

"Well what child?" Yeegar asked his pupil in an attempt to avoid speaking of the tragedy that had befallen him in his younger years when he, who had done so much to prepare the minds of his students for the outside world, could not prepare them for, much less protect them from, what had become of them.

"You were going to say something," Annabelle said, trying to urge her master onward in his tale.

"I was?"

"Yes, you said that even England isn't free of Akuma and then you were gonna say something else, but you stopped."

"Oh? It seems I've lost my train of thought," Yeegar lied, "Come now child, it's time for bed. We've got a lot to report to Komui once we get back home, and we'll need to be well rested when we give our report."

"You're hiding something," was what Annabelle wanted to say to the old general, but as a yawn escaped from her mouth, she just said, "Okay," and lay down on the seat by the window, drifting off to sleep as the wooden carriage sped on through the night toward home.


	8. A Long Journey

**Chapter Eight**

In the morning, Annabelle awoke to find that the carriage had stopped moving. So, resisting the urge to fall asleep again, she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around for her master. When she saw that he wasn't here, she decided to look outside the carriage for him. As she limped toward the door, she made a note to herself that sleeping on the window seat of a carriage was probably not the best idea for one with a twisted ankle.

She opened the door to find that the coach had arrived at the Black Order; that they were home. So, she hopped out of the carriage as best as she could and, with the Genesis Bow in hand, she strode through the front gate, making sure to shout a greeting to the Gatekeeper as she passed his face.

As soon as she had entered, however, she was immediately tackled to the ground by an overly hyper Lenalee.

"Bella!" Lenalee shouted, "I'm so glad to see you!"

Annabelle, who had landed on her injured ankle, did not feel quite the same way. "I thought I told you not to call me Bella!" she shouted back in protest, "And get off me, you're hurting my already twisted ankle!"

"I'm sorry! Did I hurt you Bella?" Lenalee asked.

"I already said that you did," Annabelle said, getting even more annoyed with each passing minute, "And stop calling me Bella!"

_Jeez,_ Annabelle thought to herself as the Chinese girl got off of her; _I almost wish Kanda had greeted me instead. Almost._

"Why are you here anyway?" Annabelle asked the other girl rudely.

"Oh," Lenalee began, "My big brother said that you might need help finding your way to his office so I volunteered since I know you get lost easily."

Annabelle, not at all too happy about Lenalee accompanying her, was angered even more by the fact that Lenalee didn't seem to trust Annabelle's internal compass, and responded thusly. "He couldn't have send Daisya, or Marie, or somebody else?" She yelled, "And I _do not_ get lost _that_ easily! It's not like my internal compass points south you know!"

"Jeez," Lenalee said, somehow still maintaining her happy tone, "Bella, you sound just like Kanda. Are you sure you two aren't related?"

"Well gee, Lenalee, I have red hair, Kanda's is black. My eyes are green, Kanda's are dark blue. I'm French, Kanda's clearly Japanese. Does it sound like we're related? And stop calling me Bella!"

"Oh yeah," Lenalee said reflectively, "I guess you're right. You sure do notice a lot about him though. Bella, do you like him or something?"

"Why would I ever like someone as rude and emotionless as Kanda? He tried to kill me! And stop calling me Bella!" Annabelle screamed so loudly that it echoed throughout the entire castle.

"I think you do like him," Lenalee teased.

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Do not!"

"Bella likes Kanda," Lenalee sang, "Bella likes-"

Before Lenalee could finish, Annabelle reached out with her fist and punched Lenalee in the mouth. The girl began crying immediately, but Annabelle grabbed her by one of her pigtails and said, "If you tell anyone, especially your brother, that I hit you, I swear I will find you and cut off these cute little pigtails of yours," which shut her up promptly. Then, for added effect, she said, "And don't you ever, _ever_, call me Bella again or even suggest that I have any feelings at all for that stupid jerkface Kanda because I don't." That being said, Annabelle walked off down the corridor toward Komui's office.

Inside the office, Annabelle saw that her master was already sitting in front of Komui's desk. The words of her nightmare kept returning to her as she came in and sat down in the chair next to the old general. She was extremely nervous as she sat and listened to the two men talk about the previous mission.

"So," the crazy Branch Chief said, addressing Annabelle, "How was your first assignment as an apprentice?"

"A little scary at first," Annabelle said, somewhat nervously, "But all in all, I think it went well."

"That's good. Great to hear it!" the ponytailed man smiled, "Usually when I ask that question I get 'don't ask' or 'none of your business old man' as a response. So I'm glad to hear something different for a change."

"Yes," Yeegar said smiling, "Annabelle did rather well for her first time. She still needs to work on some of her basic archery skills in order to use her weapon to its fullest though." Annabelle looked at her feet in embarrassment as she remembered her failure to even draw back the string on the practice bow. "Which is why I'll be taking her on a journey for a while," Yeegar finished.

Komui and Annabelle both looked at the old general like he was senile. They both couldn't believe what he had just suggested, but their feelings about it differed completely.

Komui, who was worried for their health, spoke up first. "But General Yeegar," he said, trying to sway him away from his decision to leave, "You just got back. The two of you should rest a bit before heading out. Besides, what if the Earl decides to attack Headquarters? We'll need you to help defend it from the Akuma."

Annabelle, who was excited about the whole ordeal, yet annoyed by Komui's comment, said, "I slept on the way here thank you! And what _if_ Headquarters is attacked? You've got plenty of Exorcists to defend the place and I'm sure the other generals can help them."

"Quite the naïve one aren't we?" Komui asked, "Don't you think the other generals might be busy with their own assignments?"

"Then how come we don't get to leave?" Annabelle asked rudely, "The _other_ generals do, so why can't Master and I?"

"That is enough," Yeegar said, "From both of you. Komui, Annabelle is right about one thing. We have plenty of Exorcists here just in case. Besides, Headquarters hasn't been attacked in over a century and we don't yet have enough Innocence for the Earl to want to attack us directly. The risk is far greater than the reward. We will stay for tonight only. In the morning, we will depart."

"How long will you be away?" Komui asked.

"As long as it takes," Yeegar answered.

"Very well," Komui sighed, giving up on the argument, "I'll let you go, but remember the prophecy. You have to be back before the solar eclipse."

"That will give us about sixteen years," Yeegar said, "If the Science Department's calculations are correct. We shall be back long before then." With that, Yeegar stood up and walked out of the cluttered office with his apprentice in tow.

As they stood in the hall, Yeegar told his young student to go and relax for the day while he devised an exercise routine for her, with Jerry's help of course. So, without further hesitation, Annabelle took off for the library to engage in her favorite pastime, reading. She smiled to herself as she walked down the hall, thinking about the upcoming journey with her master.

_Wow,_ she thought, _over a decade without that annoying brat Lenalee or that jerkface Kanda! It'll be almost like paradise, only without the humongous bookshelves and unlimited supply of candles to read by._

She opened the doors to the sacred hall of books and stepped inside. The Black Order's library was immense! It contained rows upon rows of high bookshelves that seemed to go on forever with every book in the world upon them. There were even books from the Far East, the lands where almost no one in their right minds would dare to tread.

Annabelle maneuvered her way to the cultural religions section and picked out a book on Greek mythology. Mythology was one of the few subjects in the library that she could wrap her seven-year-old mind around with no trouble. That and she enjoyed the stories of the gods and heroes, so this was the section she spent most of her time in.

She pulled the book from its place on the shelf and sat down in one of the large, comfy-looking chairs that were laid out for the library's clientele. She opened the book to the first page and began to read about the story of Creation. She found it strange, yet fascinating that the Greeks believed that the Earth was created from a nothingness called Chaos rather than by an all-powerful God.

She was just getting to the part where Cronus and his siblings defeated the sky god, Uranus, when she realized that she was being watched. She looked up and saw that Johnny Gill, the youngest of the Science Division's new members, was staring at her through his thick, rounded glasses.

"Can I help you?" Annabelle asked the young scientist.

"I just noticed that you were reading about mythology," he replied, "It's one of my favorite subjects, other than science of course. You might like the story of Artemis and Apollo."

"Who are they? I'm not that far yet. I've never really had enough time to get past the myth of Hades and Persephone."

"Ah, another good one," Johnny said, pushing his glasses up his nose, "Artemis and Apollo were the gods of the moon and the sun. They were also excellent archers, especially Artemis. You should read about them when you get the chance." That being said, Johnny left Annabelle to her reading.

Annabelle, curious to find out if she really _would _like the story recommended to her, flipped directly to the page it began on and started to read.

It was about six hours later when she'd finished the book and Annabelle began to respect the twin archer gods, Artemis in particular, as Annabelle felt somewhat connected to her in the sense that she, too, wanted to stay a young maiden forever, no matter how impossible for her it was. She also felt connected to the goddess Athena and the hero Orion. Like Athena, she didn't really want to fight in this war against the Earl, but also like the wisdom goddess, she knew that it was a necessity to do so. Despite that, however, she, like Orion the Hunter, wanted to be the best, no, better than the best, and could not resist a challenge.

She pondered these thoughts as she walked toward her bedroom door. Once she got there, she yawned, went inside, plopped down on her bed, and fell fast asleep. That night, there were no nightmares. That night, she dreamt that she was the Huntress, Artemis, chasing after a stag with her dryad followers close behind her.

The next morning, she rose up out of her bed, made her way to the cafeteria, endured Jerry's overly enthusiastic remarks about how adorable she was, grabbed her breakfast, and sat down, praying that Lenalee wouldn't come bother her. Instead, much to Annabelle's surprise, it was Johnny who joined her. His sandy-brown hair was a mess and his white lab coat was in disarray, leading Annabelle to believe that it was another late night for the Science Division.

"Hey Annabelle," Johnny said, smiling doggedly as he greeted her.

"Hello Johnny," Annabelle replied, returning his smile, "What are you doing here? Don't you usually have work to do at this hour?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to ask you what you thought of Artemis and Apollo."

"I really enjoyed it, but won't Reever be on you about leaving in the middle of a big assignment?"

"It's nothing I can't handle," Johnny said with gusto, but as soon as he did, there came a yell from Reever in the direction of the labs.

"Johnny Gill you get your scrawny butt back in here and get to work!" Reever yelled, causing Johnny to lose some of his courage that he had previously built up and dash back to the labs as fast as he could with a "Gotta go!" to Annabelle as he did so.

"Don't work too hard!" Annabelle called after him.

"I'll try not to, but I can't make any promises!" Johnny yelled back as he disappeared from Annabelle's field of vision.

The rest of the morning was peaceful for Annabelle. She finished her breakfast with no interruptions and was able to locate her master with ease.

"Ready to go?" Yeegar asked Annabelle as she approached him. He was standing in front of the same carriage as before, but, this time, a different Finder was by his side. This one was tall and slender with dark brown skin and wide brown eyes. His hair was black and curly, and drifted around his head like a black cloud.

Annabelle, who had never seen anyone like this before, was speechless for a moment. She had heard that there were people in Africa with skin as dark as night and hair that was curlier than a sheep's wool, but never before had she seen one in person.

"Oh," Yeegar said, "Forgive me; I haven't introduced you two yet. Annabelle, this is Zaki. He will be traveling with us on our journey."

"How do you do Annabelle?" Zaki said, his accent heavy, though Annabelle couldn't place it.

"Hello," Annabelle managed to say, "I'm very well thank you. Might I ask where you're from? I don't mean to be rude, I've just never seen someone like you before."

"It's alright child," Zaki said, "I get that a lot in these parts, though that isn't the worst you could say to me. I am from a country called Tanzania. It's in Africa as you may have guessed."

"What is your accent? I can't figure it out."

"Ah, you see, my name, Zaki, is Swahili, which is the language I grew up speaking. My name means virtuous, which is what I try to be every day that I live."

"Wow, that's deep," Annabelle said, "I wonder what my name means. I want to try to be that, whatever it is."

"It is a good goal to strive for, in my opinion, but whatever your name means, I am sure you will achieve that state of being as you grow older. You also have an accent child. You are from France, no?"

"I knew it! I knew I had an accent too! I just couldn't hear it. I wonder why. And yes, I am from France. It's where I was born and where…." Annabelle drifted off. She was going to say "Where my parents died," but she just couldn't. She couldn't even think about the people who'd raised her without crying. She thought herself rather pathetic for that fact because, in her opinion, real warriors didn't ever cry.

"Where what, child?" Zaki asked her, breaking her train of thought and pulling her back into reality.

"Zaki," Yeegar said addressing the dark-skinned man, "Annabelle's life back in France is still too difficult a subject for her to talk about right now. All I can say is that her reason for leaving was similar to your reason for leaving your village back in Tanzania."

"I see," Zaki said, remembering the white-skinned men who took away his parents and his older sister. He had no resentment toward the white-skinned people at the Black Order, they had taken him in with open arms when he was a young teenager running from the English law. They had bribed the constables so that he would no longer be persecuted for stealing when he had no money to survive. No, he loved the white men of the Order as if they were his fellow kinsmen. It was the world outside that he distrusted. To Zaki, anyone wearing the uniform of an Exorcist or Finder was a brother, a comrade. Anyone else was a potential enemy who might take him away just for being different.

"Well then," Yeegar said, "Shall we depart?"

Annabelle and Zaki nodded at the old man and took their places, Zaki in the driver's seat and Annabelle inside the coach. Zaki took up the reigns and urged the horses forward. As the castle behind them grew smaller, Annabelle waved goodbye to the library, goodbye to her friends, even goodbye to Kanda and Lenalee. It seemed, to the small red-headed girl, that she was constantly jumping from one life to the next.

First, she left her life as the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, and now she was leaving her life at the Black Order for life on the road. She knew she would see her new home again, but who knew when that would be. She soon got the sinking feeling that, on this journey, she would also say goodbye to her childhood and embrace her new life as an adult. She hoped that, by that time, she would at least be prepared for the change.


	9. Twelve Years Later, Homecoming

**Chapter Nine**

It was a cold autumn morning when the wooden coach, pulled by four white horses and shrouded in black curtains, arrived in front of the Black Order Headquarters. As the carriage pulled to a stop, three people disembarked from it. One was the driver, a tall, slender African man from Tanzania. He wore a white, hooded uniform and carried what looked like a communication device on his back. The second to disembark was an old man with long, white hair, a moustache of the same color, and white skin. This man wore a black poncho with gold decorations and what looked to be a compass and a cross all put into one over his left breast. The final member to exit the carriage was a short woman who was slender in build with leanly muscled arms. She wore a black jacket with silver decorations and the same symbol upon it as the old man's accompanied by a short black skirt, thigh-high socks, and black, flat-soled shoes.

"It's so good to be back," the woman exclaimed, "It's been ages since we were here!"

"Indeed it has Annabelle," the African man in white said, then, addressing the elderly man, he asked, "General Yeegar, what will you do now that we are back?"

The old man replied, "I'm going to report back to Komui. Annabelle, Zaki, I give you free reign to do as you please for the rest of the day."

"Cool," the woman said, "I'm going to the library. I bet Johnny's picked out all kinds of mythology books for me while we were away."

"I will report back to my fellow Finders," Zaki said as he turned to leave.

Annabelle also left, taking both the practice bow and the Genesis Bow with her in case she ran into Kanda again. _Who knows how bad he'll be now that he's older, _she asked herself, running her long, slim fingers through her, now short, crimson hair.

Much had changed in Annabelle during her long journey across Europe, especially physically. For one, she was much taller and curvier than she had been as a child. She had also begun to lose her sight at the age of twelve and thus had purchased a pair of square-rimmed glasses to aid her vision. By the age of ten, her bosom had begun to grow and, by the time she was eleven, she began to bleed. At first, she was afraid of it, after all, no one had told her about the process of becoming a woman, but as her life moved onward, she began to think less of it and accept it as inevitable. Near the end of her journey, Annabelle had grown weary of pulling her long, wavy hair out of her face while practicing and refused to tie it back, for that would interrupt training and take too much time in the mornings to do. So, in order to remedy the problem, she took one of Zaki's hunting knives and hacked off a great deal of her hair, leaving it in a sort of asymmetrical bob where one side was longer than the other. Over the course of a few days, her hair finally fell straight instead of wavy, yet it took a log of brushing at night on her part to get it that way.

As she strode down the familiar hallway, she caught sight of Johnny making his way, stealthily, in the opposite direction. When he saw her, he hesitated for a bit, surprised by how much his young friend had grown in the past twelve years. She was no longer the seven-year-old girl he had recommended myths to, but a supple, strong, nineteen-year-old woman who desperately needed a new uniform.

"Hey Annabelle," Johnny said nervously, "How was the journey?"

"Hey Johnny," Annabelle replied, "It was fine. I learned a lot and am now a whole lot stronger than I was before." It was then that she noticed how short her skirt actually was, for the young scientist was presently staring at her legs. She became self-conscious. "Hey, um, do you think you could make me a new uniform Johnny? _S'il vous plait?_"

"Um, sure," Johnny said, "I need your measurements and some suggestions from you though first. If that's okay of course."

"Of course," Annabelle said, "Well, I don't want a skirt for this one, they're not comfortable to me anymore and they tend to be too revealing while in combat."

"No skirt, sure thing," Johnny said, pulling out a tape measurer and a notepad. Wrapping the tape measurer around her bosom, he asked her nervously, "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, that's all," Annabelle replied as Johnny finished making a note of her sleeve, waist, leg, and hip measurements.

"By the way," he said, running off to get to work on her request, "There's a whole mess of books I've marked for you to read in the library in case you're interested."

"Thanks Johnny!" Annabelle shouted after him.

Within the library, as promised, Annabelle found a stack of books with removable labels upon them. _These must be the ones;_ she thought to herself and selected three of the books to carry over to her usual spot in the back corner. She began reading immediately.

However, as soon as she had immersed herself within the story of Beowulf, an unfamiliar voice pulled her out of her trance.

"Well," it said, "Haven't seen you before. You're kinda cute! Are you new? Or do you just stay in your room all the time sulking like some people do?"

Annabelle looked up from the book to see that the voice belonged to a red-haired boy who couldn't have been any older than she. He was an odd looking sort of fellow, in her opinion, what with his scraggly red hair, held up by a turquoise headband, and his bright orange scarf that was wrapped around his neck. The most peculiar part about him though, to Annabelle, was the fact that, while one eye was emerald green, the other was covered by an eye-patch. In fact, to Annabelle's highly-active imagination, he looked a lot like a pirate. The only way she could tell that he wasn't was the silver rose cross on his black jacket. Looking at him further, she wondered if this strange fellow was a half-brother of hers, but dismissed the thought as she noticed the difference in facial and bone structure.

"Hey, are you gonna answer my question Red?" the boy asked her.

"Firstly, my name isn't Red," Annabelle said, "Though I do prefer it to Bella, it's Annabelle. Secondly, no, I'm not new here and I wasn't in my room sulking the whole time, I was on a journey with General Yeegar."

"Wow, you know the General Yeegar?" the boy asked, impressed.

"Yeah," Annabelle answered, "He's my master. What's your name, might I ask?"

"Wow! You must be pretty good to have him as a teacher! All I get is a grumpy old panda!" Smiling casually, the boy said, "The name's Lavi. I'm a Bookman."

"But you wear the sign of an Exorcist," Annabelle observed.

"That's because we Bookmen are allied with the Exorcists."

"Oh," Annabelle said, "Well it was a pleasure to meet you Lavi."

"You too Red," Lavi said, then, looking back at her as he turned to go, he asked, "By the way, how do you get Bella out of Annabelle?"

"Ask Lenalee," was all that Annabelle said before returning to _Beowulf_ for the rest of the day.

By the time evening came, Johnny had finished with Annabelle's new uniform, but she was so tired that she decided to examine it in the morning. Then, she fell into something she had been avoiding for a dozen years now, a nightmare.

In her dream, she saw a man around her age with grey skin and snow-white hair. Upon his forehead, he wore a black and white scarf and upon his body, he wore an open, white jacket and white pants. When she looked into his eyes, Annabelle noticed that they were as yellow as a cat's. As she stared breathlessly into them, he took the scarf from his head and revealed three more eyes, one big, two small.

"Look at my third eye," he told her, "And all your ambitions will be mine."

Annabelle couldn't resist the pull of the man's voice and gazed into his center eye. At that moment, her perspective in the dream shifted and she could see herself removing the pair of blue jeans she wore in the dream as well as her panties. She also saw that the man with five eyes was removing his pants as well. Within the next five seconds of the dream, things got rough and, as the white-haired, grey-skinned man thrust himself inside of her, Annabelle saw that the trance on her body had been broken and that she was now in pain.

_I'm witnessing my own rape,_ she thought to herself. _Oh, please let this just be a normal nightmare this time._ She watched in horror as the strange man penetrated her purity over and over and wondered whether or not he was the one who, twelve years ago, had threatened her master in a previous dream. Upon analyzing this man's voice, she changed her thought, for their voices were much too different. She finally couldn't take the visual anymore and snapped her eyes open.

Annabelle sat up so suddenly that she became a tad dizzy, but regained herself after several seconds. She then noticed that she was breathing hard, her heart was racing, and she was drenched in a cold sweat. This had been the worst nightmare yet, though she couldn't help but feel that they would become even worse as time went on.

In an attempt to forget her nightmare, she stood up and eyed the new uniform Johnny had put together for her. It consisted of five parts: a black mini-jacket with the standard silver decorations, a white corset with black lace to tighten it, denim blue jeans, two black belts with silver buckles, and a pair of black boots.

"Now this is something I can move in," Annabelle said after putting it on, "Though the corset may have been a bit much on Johnny's part."

Sighing, she headed to the bathrooms to find a mirror. Once she had succeeded, she said to herself, "Damn Annabelle, you can kick ass and look good at the same time now!"

Pleased with her new look, she made her way to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. When she arrived at Jerry's window, she ordered a strawberry cream cheese Danish and a glass of cranberry juice. Jerry, who didn't recognize her now that she was older and sporting a new uniform, did a double-take as she gave him her order.

"Is that the same little Annabelle who spent most of her time in the library and had such good manners?" he asked her.

"The very same," Annabelle replied, "It's good to see you again Jerry."

Jerry smiled at her, embraced her from over the counter, and said, "Good to see you too, and I have to say, what a lovely young woman you've grown up to be."

"_Merci beaucoup _Jerry," Annabelle said, taking her Danish and juice and sitting at an empty table.

As she sat down, she was greeted by a boy with white hair and grey eyes. His most notable features though, were his deformed left arm and the scar across his left eye with a pentacle on top of it.

"Never seen you before," the boy said, "Are you new?"

"You know," Annabelle said to him, "I get that a lot. I'm not new at all. Actually, I've been with the Order since I was a little girl."

"Really? Why haven't I seen you around before?"

"Well, I just got back from a long journey with my master, so I haven't really been _here_ for you to see around. Speaking of new, who are you?"

"My name's Allen Walker, I just got here about two months ago," the boy said.

"Oh," Annabelle said, "Then I guess I'm too late to warn you about Kanda or Lenalee."

As she said the Chinese girl's name, the white-haired boy looked confused. "I can understand warning me about Kanda, but why Lenalee?"

"Oh, no reason in particular," Annabelle said as she remembered several instances of when she and the other girl had been at odds with one another. "Anyhow, I'm Annabelle."

"Wait a minute," Allen said, a look of surprise mingled with minute amounts of terror coming onto his face, "Lenalee told me about you."

"Oh God," Annabelle said, fearing the worst, "What did she say?"

"That you were the daughter of my master," the boy said nervously as if the thought of his master having a daughter was a sign of the apocalypse.

"I don't remember my papa having an apprentice," Annabelle said, still thinking of Jakob as her father more so than the man who was actually her father, "I mean, he died when I was only seven and had comfortably retired to having his own company by then instead of captaining someone else's ships."

Allen Walker looked confused for a minute and then said, "I don't think we're talking about the same man."

"Wait a minute," Annabelle said, shocked, "How did Lenalee find out that..." she trailed off.

"That what?" Allen asked, then he said, "Are you going to finish that Danish? I'm still hungry after eating my breakfast."

"Go ahead, you can have it. I've lost my appetite." Then, to no one in particular, she began shouting, "It was supposed to be a secret! I never told anyone, not even Master! How the devil did _she _find out?" At this point, Annabelle stood up, panicking, "What if she told everyone? I am so screwed! I'm not ready to give up my old last name yet! I gotta find her!" Turning to Allen, who was gorging himself on her discarded Danish, she asked, "Where is she?"

"She's in Komui's office, probably serving him his coffee. Why?" the white-haired boy answered through a mouthful of pastry.

"Because I'm gonna kick her ass for telling people something that wasn't hers to tell in the first place!" With that, she stomped off, leaving Allen to think of how much she reminded him of Kanda, only much more panicked than angry. _She's definitely Master Cross's daughter,_ he thought to himself, _I just hope she isn't too much like him._

With that thought, he remembered all the times his master had left him to do all of the work while he went out drinking and womanizing the entire night, leaving Allen to pay his debts as well. _I at least hope she pays her bills._


	10. Annabelle's Parentage is Revealed to All

**Good news everyone! Annabelle is going to be making an appearance in a friend of mine's -man fanfiction. She told me she'd begin working on typing it up so that she can post it sometime. Her pen name is Leila Crimson. Once she gets her stories up, you should check her out, she's pretty good. Oh! And you should also check out my friend London Do-chan! She's been working on a Hetalia fanfiction for some time now and its first six chapters are up.**

**Chapter Ten**

Annabelle stormed down the hallway toward Komui's office, pushing down anyone who got in her way. As soon as she arrived, she noticed that Lenalee was just leaving. Lenalee almost didn't recognize Annabelle until she saw the anger in her face.

"Bel–I mean Annabelle. You're back!" Lenalee shouted cheerfully.

Annabelle rolled her eyes. _At least she's learned _something_ while I was gone._ At the sight of the slender Chinese girl, Annabelle exclaimed, "Damn it Lenalee! How in the nine rings of Hell did you find out about my parentage?"

"Sorry, I heard it from my older brother." Looking at Annabelle more thoroughly, Lenalee stated, "By the way, you look lovely now that you've grown up a bit."

"Did it ever occur to you that there may have been a reason as to why I never told anyone that I was Cross's daughter?"

"No, why? Why wouldn't you want people to know?" the girl was genuinely confused.

"I thought you might say that," Annabelle said, disappointed with herself for asking such a stupid question aloud. "Look, I wanted to keep my true parentage a secret because firstly, I'm not ready to assume a new last name and I don't really see Cross as my father. Secondly, since I've been here, I've heard things about Cross that I really don't like and, since most people believe that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I really don't want to be viewed as the daughter of a drunken man-whore!"

"I'm sorry Annabelle," Lenalee apologized, "I didn't know you'd be so upset about it or else I wouldn't have done it."

"Yeah, yeah," Annabelle said, seriously doubting that the other girl really meant any of this. "And I think I've lost a couple of brain cells just being in your presence."

Lenalee turned to the scarlet-haired girl and began to shout, "You don't have to be so rude you know! I've been trying to be friends with you since we were little and you've just been nothing but a jerk to me so I don't even know why I try anymore!"

"I never wanted to be your friend!" Annabelle shouted back at the Chinese girl, "I thought I made that clear from the beginning!"

"I was trying to help you!"

"With what? My grieving over the death of my parents? Fat lot of good your perkiness did for me! When I'm grieving, a perky voice is one of the last things I need to deal with!"

"I'm still going to try and be your friend," Lenalee said sincerely, without shouting.

"And I don't care," Annabelle said, the words coming out more rudely than she'd meant them too, but she was too prideful to apologize, "Try all you want girly, you'll earn my respect when you can beat me in a fight."

"Fine!" The other girl agreed, "I'll fight you someday, but not now. I have work to do."

"As do I," Annabelle said, walking down the corridor, away from Lenalee.

As she sauntered on down the corridor, she couldn't help but think about how well Lenalee had developed over the years. Staring down at her own breasts, she compared them to Lenalee's. She did the same with her hips, waist, height, and facial structure.

_Let's see,_ Annabelle thought, _well, she's taller than me, and skinnier, but I've got more curves. Her facial structure is more girlish than mine, but my eyes are more mature-looking. Not to be vain, but due to personality issues and intellect, I think I win. But how many good guys go for tomboyish, brainy girls? Hmm…_

As she pondered this, Reever's voice sounded over the intercom. "Allen Walker, Annabelle Cross, and Kanda, please report to Chief Komui's office right away," it said.

_Oh great,_ Annabelle thought angrily, _now everyone and their brother knows that Cross is my biological father. Half of the time I can't even bring myself to say "Cross" and "father" in the same sentence, let alone with the words "is my" in the middle of the two words._

She turned completely around and wandered back in the direction she'd come from, wondering what the crazy Chinese man had in store for her today.

As she entered, she saw that Kanda had already arrived and was sitting on the end of the couch that was closest to the door. As she sat down on the far side of the couch, she glanced at the samurai. He was much taller than her now and his hair was much longer too. She also noticed that, underneath his black Exorcist coat, he wasn't wearing a shirt. Annabelle couldn't help but stare at her rival's stunning, muscular torso. She didn't know she was doing so until he said, "What the hell are you staring at you stupid Sparrow?"

His voice was so deep and extremely manly, enough to make any sane girl drool, but Annabelle was somewhat less than sane and snapped out of her stupor, saying "Only your pathetic lack of clothing on your upper body dumbass. Put a shirt on or something, jeez! And why am I a sparrow?"

"Because you talk too much yet are not beautiful enough to be a dove."

Why you! Come here, I'll rip your guts out you…you…you stupid Cat Man!"

"Is that the best you can do?" Kanda asked as Allen, Reever, and Komui walked in, "Listen here Sparrow, I don't care if you're a girl, I'll cut your throat here and now if you so much as touch me!"

"Why is that? Afraid of a woman's touch are we? Maybe you'd prefer that of a man's instead!" She laughed.

"Why you idiot Sparrow!" With that, Kanda unsheathed his Anti-Akuma weapon, a sword known as Mugen, and charged the couch to get to Annabelle.

Annabelle readied the Genesis Bow, pulled back the silver string, and stood her ground as an arrow materialized out of nowhere.

However, as she readied herself to fire, she found Section Leader Reever Wenham standing between her and her foe. "That's enough," he said, "We have more pressing matters to discuss other than your relationship."

"We are not in a relationship!" Kanda and Annabelle shouted at the same time.

"You sure sound like it," Allen said as he sat between his fellow Exorcists.

"You stay out of this Bean Sprout," Kanda said to Allen, "This is my battle."

"Heh, Bean Sprout," Annabelle said, chuckling, "That a pet name for your boyfriend over there?"

"What?" Allen asked clueless and hopelessly naïve, "Boyfriend?"

"I am not into men," Kanda said sternly.

"Sounds like someone's still in denial," Annabelle said, taunting the Japanese man.

"Enough already!" Komui and Reever yelled.

"Now, do you want to know your assignment or not?" Komui asked.

"No way," Annabelle said, randomly noticing that the tall Chinese man had gotten a haircut and his once long hair now flipped outward, "I am not going on a mission with the new guy and Mr. Moody! Oh hell no!"

"The feeling's mutual," Kanda said, "Having the Bean Sprout and the stupid Sparrow tag along is just going to slow me down anyway."

"Well excuse me Mr. Keep Up or Go Home," Allen said, offended by the taller man's words, "I personally have no great love for you either."

"Ahem!" Reever said, clearing his throat to get their attention, "Would you guys knock it off and pay attention? We've received reports of a house in Scotland that only appears on Sundays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On all other days, it disappears as if it never even existed. We believe Innocence is involved."

"And you need all three of us, why?" Annabelle asked.

"Because you and Kanda don't work well together by yourselves and Allen needs someone to keep him from getting lost," Komui explained.

"Why not just send me and Annabelle?" Allen asked.

"Because she also gets lost easily."

"Hey! Not as much as I used to!" Annabelle protested.

"Also, we believe that you, Allen; and Annabelle will be able to help us find General Cross. Allen because he was Cross's apprentice and Annabelle because she's Cross's daughter."

"Well, that explains the most unladylike temper then," Kanda said, glaring at Annabelle.

"Yeah?" Annabelle asked, "And what, pray tell, explains your effeminate hairdo Kanda?"

"Why you! You're dead meat Sparrow!" Kanda said, standing and again, unsheathing Mugen. Annabelle stood as well and drew back the string of her bow again, the unused arrow materializing much faster than it had before. They began to brawl as Reever and Komui gave Allen the mission's finer details.

"You kids have fun," Komui said, smiling that ear-to-ear grin of his.

"Allen," Reever said, "Here's the dossier. I figured you'd be the most responsible one in the group, so hold tight to it."

"One question," Allen said, "Why Kanda? Why not send Marie, or Lavi, or Bookman, or even Krory?"

"Well," Reever began, "Marie and Krory are both on missions and Lavi and Bookman have secret Bookman stuff to do. Besides, Annabelle needs to get over her hatred of Kanda at some point. I think the three of you will eventually find out that you have more in common than you think."

"Right," Allen said, unsure of the Australian scientist's words.

However, without another word, Allen grabbed Kanda by the hair with his left arm and Annabelle by her forearm with his right and dragged the two of them out of the office and into their mission.

Later on, after the three Exorcists were long gone, Komui called all of the Science Division members together for a meeting. Once they all sat down, Komui smiled and began to speak.

"Now then, we all know that our beloved young Annabelle is, in fact, the only known child of General Cross."

"Yeah," a corpulent man wearing a stocking cap said, "And what does that matter?"

"Well Tapp," Reever said, addressing him, "We believe she can help us find him."

"Oh, I see," Tapp said, you could practically see the light bulb appear over his head.

"Don't listen to him boys," Komui said, smiling his notorious grin, "Do you men know the saying 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?' Well, gentlemen, I'd like to make a wager with you all."

"We're listening," Johnny said.

"Whoever wins this bet won't have to do any work for an entire week." Komui said.

"So what is it already Chief?" Reever asked, gaining interest, seeing as how he did most of the work in the entire Division.

"Who do you men think that Annabelle Cross will spend the night with first?" Komui asked, smiling.

"Wow. Just wow Chief." Reever said, "_That's _very mature."

"Oh you know it'll happen eventually!" Komui said, dismissing his subordinate's comment, "So, are you boys in or not? Remember, the reward for winning is a week's worth of vacation from work."

"You sure about this Komui," a ghost-like creature called 65 asked.

"Yes."

There was a long pause, as if the men were considering whether or not to play Komui's game.

Finally, Tapp Dopps spoke up. "I'm in," he said, and there was a chorus of "Me too's" following.

"Brilliant gentlemen," Komui said. Then, smiling, he pulled a dealer's cap and a notepad out of nowhere and said, "Now then, gentlemen, place your bets!"

By the end of the meeting, everyone had placed their bet, starting with 65, who bet that it would be Daisya. Tapp bet on Lavi while Johnny bet on Marie. A bearded man with glasses by the name of Russel bet that it would be Allen, while Reever placed his bet on Kanda. Finally, Komui placed his bet.

"I think it will be one of the Clan of Noah," he said boldly.

"Boss," Tapp said, "You're sick."

"That's just weird," 65 said.

"Why Chief," Reever asked him.

"It's the most logical choice," Komui explained.

"I don't get it," Johnny said.

"You see," Komui began, "It can't be Allen because she doesn't seem interested. She and Kanda hate each other and besides he probably has some secret girlfriend we don't know about. Marie's blind and that just seems boring. Daisya looks more like a wolf than a human. And finally, Lavi's not allowed to have relationships with anyone because he's a Bookman."

"Chief," Reever said after Komui's explanation was finished, "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard out of your mouth."

"Yeah," Russel said, "You prepared to lose Komui?"

"Not a chance," Komui said, smiling confidently.

"We'll see about that," Reever said, preparing himself for a week's vacation.

**I'd like to thank you all for putting up with the wait for so long. You're all so very patient! This is the newest installment in Annabelle's story. You may have noticed that she was a bit meaner to Lenalee than was necessary. There's a purpose behind that that will come much, much, MUCH later on in the story. I'll also be posting chapters eleven and twelve after I get them typed up. However, I don't know when that will be because I've been busy babysitting this summer as well as taking driver's ed. I'm done with the driver's ed so that frees up my time at night, but the babysitting takes up my time during the day. I've actually halted the production of chapter thirteen until I get eleven and twelve done. Please R&R to tell me how I'm doing, I really appreciate you all and your opinions as well.**


	11. The Book

**Okay all; this is the chapter I promised. I just found out that I won't be babysitting much for the rest of the summer, don't ask about the reasoning, just know that it isn't the fact that I've been fired. Seriously. So, now I have more time to type up this story for your reading pleasure. And sorry it took me so long to upload it, my free trial of Microsoft Word 2010 expired and I don't have the money to purchase the full version so I had to download a different program. I hope that this chapter, and the ones before it, is up to your standards of at least okay fanfiction. And I OWN NOTHING THAT IS RELATED TO THE MANGA! ^^**

**Chapter Eleven**

"Will you two quit fighting for one second while I try and find this place?" Annabelle screamed at the two men behind her.

They had arrived in Scotland a day ago and were now journeying through the Highlands in an attempt to find the mysterious, disappearing manor. So far, the three Exorcists had been having no luck with their endeavor.

"Why don't you shut up you stupid ginger Sparrow!" Kanda shouted.

"Oh, so you've been tacking on more insults to my new pet name have you my androgynous little Cat Man?" Annabelle retorted.

"Why you!" Kanda started, but Allen stopped him by shouting, "Look, the mansion! It's just on the horizon!"

The two bickering Exorcists turned around to find that, indeed, the manor had materialized straight ahead of them. The three of them rushed toward the large mansion as quickly as they could for fear of it disappearing on them again.

As soon as they stepped inside the mansion, they felt as if they'd stepped outside of their own world. Upon each and every wall was a different scene that seemed to have come alive and, when they looked around for a door, the three Exorcists found that there wasn't one, even the door they'd came through had disappeared.

"I guess there's no turning back now," Allen said, resigned to their fate.

"You mean I'm stuck in here with the two of you?" Annabelle shouted.

"Che," Kanda said, "Being stuck with us isn't half as bad as being stuck with you and the Bean Sprout."

"I told you," Allen shouted, pouncing Kanda, "My name is-" He was interrupted by Annabelle.

"Hey guys! Look!" she exclaimed from the far side of the room.

The two men looked to find Annabelle standing in one of the walls. This one had a jungle theme to it and it almost seemed as if the animals were actually moving.

"How the hell did you get in there?" Kanda snarled.

Annabelle shrugged her shoulders, "I just walked in. I think we have to go through the walls in order to get to the Innocence."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever-" Kanda began, but Allen interrupted him.

"Annabelle, you're a genius!" he exclaimed, and he followed her into the jungle wall.

"I guess I have no choice," Kanda said as he waded into the thick jungle undergrowth.

They had wandered onward for a while until they realized that they were back in the exact same spot they'd entered from.

"Way to go you idiot Sparrow! You led us in a damn circle!" Kanda shouted.

Annabelle felt insulted by this as she had sincerely tried her best to not get them lost. So she shouted back, "Well let's see you lead us in the right direction then you damn Cat!" Annabelle replied.

Suddenly, they heard a noise that sounded like screeching and Allen and Annabelle gave a start, for it sounded close by.

"Did you hear that?" Allen asked the other two.

"Yeah, it sounded like it was just west of us," Annabelle said, frightened.

"You idiot," Kanda said, "Clearly that is east."

"Look mister, you try navigating in this place! How the hell does a jungle fit into this manor anyway?"

"Uh, you guys…" Allen said nervously as he pointed to something directly in front of him.

"WHAT?" Annabelle and Kanda shouted at the same time.

"I think we have company."

The huntress and the samurai slowly turned around to find a large pterodactyl-looking monster hovering right over them!

"What the hell is that thing?" Annabelle shouted, grabbing for her bow.

"That, Annabelle, is a Level Two Akuma," Allen said, activating the Innocence within his deformed arm. Annabelle's eyes widened as she watched its shriveled form transform into a giant silver claw.

"You mean there's more than just one kind of these freakin' things!" Annabelle exclaimed as she drew back her bow's silver string.

"Yes you moron," Kanda said as he unsheathed Mugen, his Anti-Akuma weapon. "And you're shouting just lured it here!"

"Hey, you were shouting too!" Annabelle shouted back.

"Would you guys shut up and help me fight this thing?" Allen exclaimed as he tried to fend off the giant flying, reptilian monster.

The three Exorcists exchanged blows with the beast for a while, and, realizing that it was too strong for them at the moment, they ran off in the direction where they believed the wall ended in.

However, the Level Two had followed them out of the jungle wall and into the small room. Annabelle drew her bowstring back, the silver arrow materializing as she did so, and shot at the beast. Though no matter how accurately she hit it, her arrows were unable to penetrate the Akuma's skin. Kanda brought Mugen up to his chest, parallel to the ground, placed his fingers at the base of the blade's broad side, and drew them slowly to the point.

"Mugen, unsheathe," his deep voice said, "Underworld creatures, first illusion!"

Out of his sword came three or four white monsters that latched onto the Akuma and seemed to be killing it. However, Kanda rushed forward, jumped and struck the Akuma, slashing at it with his sword. Then, it was Allen's turn to strike. He released his Anti-Akuma's second form and it changed from a silver claw to a giant white cannon of a thing, still attached to his body. When he fired his weapon, he shot out glowing golden rods, which penetrated the Akuma's skin. To finish it off, his arm cannon turned into a sort of sword, with one of the glowing rods as its blade. He jumped into the air, landed on the Akuma's foot, and climbed up toward the hart. Once there, he jammed his arm into the Akuma.

It immediately fell to the ground and disintegrated.

"Che," Kanda said, "Not only are you an idiot, but you're also a weakling."

"Hey!" Annabelle said, taking umbrage at Kanda's remark, "I've never actually fought a Level Two before!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't got us lost then we wouldn't have met up with that Akuma in the first place!"

Annabelle stepped closer to the tall Japanese man. Getting in his face, she said, "Well gee, maybe if you'd have taken the lead instead of me then maybe we wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place!"

"Would you two quit it?" Allen yelled, "Arguing will get us nowhere! We have to pick another wall."

Annabelle and Kanda looked at each other, then at Allen. Then, Annabelle spoke, "You're right Allen, let's keep moving. You pick a wall then."

Kanda rolled his eyes, "Great idea," he said sarcastically, "Let's let the Bean Sprout pick. After all, he _never_ gets lost."

"Shut up you damn Cat Man!" Annabelle yelled. Turning to Allen she said gently, "Go on Allen."

"Allen looked around him at each wall within the room. The one behind him, he knew, was the jungle, in front of him was an ocean, to his left, a meadow, and to his right, a desert.

He lingered a little longer on his decision before he spoke. "Hmm," he said, considering his options, "We should probably avoid the ocean because we'll never be able to breathe underwater. And we shouldn't take the meadow because looks can be deceiving and we'll never know whether or not we'll be attacked. Does that mean the same applies for the ocean and breathing underwater?" He paused, considering the idea. "Our best bet is probably the desert, but we still can't rule out the ocean. We need to test it."

"Well then," Annabelle said, "We should probably send someone in," and she pushed Kanda through the wall. He held his breath and braced himself as he plunged into the water.

"Take a breath and let's see if you develop gills!" Annabelle shouted at him, "Maybe you _are_ more of a Fish Man than a Cat Man!"

"Dammit Annabelle!" Allen shouted, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Well you see Allen, we needed a test subject so I decided we'd use Grumpy over there." She smiled innocently at the white-haired teen.

At that moment, Kanda stepped out of the wall and began to yell as he sloshed toward Annabelle and Allen.

"Do you realize that I could have died in there?" he yelled.

"Oh you're such a baby," Annabelle said, "I would've jumped in to save you if I found out that you couldn't swim."

"Well, at least we know that route's out of the question," Allen said, taking a step toward the desert.

"Wait!" Annabelle shouted, "What if the desert is more dangerous than the meadow?"

"Well," Allen said, "Only one way to find out," and he stepped through the wall.

Meanwhile, outside of the manor, the figure of a small, pre-teen girl lingered, smiling deviously and waiting for her prey to arrive. She had recently come out of hiding to serve her master and was itching for someone to toy with. The three Exorcists that had just entered seemed like her cup of tea.

_Besides,_ she thought,_ my cutie-pie Allen will be expecting me._

She smiled as she thought of how the poor little Exorcists would work so hard to have grabbed the Innocence, only to have it fall right into her petite hands.

"Now then Lero," she said to the umbrella she was holding, her voice dark and smooth, "It's time to execute our plan." Her smile widened considerably, showing her white teeth. Her yellow eyes glowed like fire as she sat there, thinking of what fun she would have with them later on.

They had been wandering across the desert sand for hours and, unfortunately for the three Exorcists, the desert, unlike the jungle wall, had no landmarks. Therefore they had no idea whether or not they were wandering in circles. Annabelle had tried marking an X in the sand, but a gust of wind kicked up minutes later and she figured that it was all for naught.

"I'm so thirsty," Allen complained.

"I'm tired," said Annabelle, but I'll live for now, I hope."

"You two are pathetic," Kanda said angrily as they continued to trudge through the sand.

"Oh like you're one to talk," Annabelle teased, "You couldn't last half a minute underwater!"

"That's because there is no accessible oxygen underwater!" Kanda shouted.

"Wait, up ahead," Allen exclaimed, "I think I see a door!"

Sure enough, up ahead, a black wooden door appeared. For Annabelle and Allen, it was like the light at the end of a tunnel. Kanda, however, just saw this as one step closer to completing the mission and put up his usual indifferent, grouchy front.

"Come on!" Annabelle shouted, "The Innocence has to be on the other side!"

At that moment, as Annabelle dashed toward the door, Allen's left eye changed into a sort of monocle or spyglass and exclaimed, "Annabelle wait! There's an Akuma coming!"

Annabelle kidded to a halt as a giant, scorpion-shaped Level Two surfaced from underneath the sand. Its large stinger was raised and aimed directly at Annabelle's chest. As it lunged at her, she jumped out of the way and drew back her bowstring.

"You idiot!" Kanda shouted, "Your arrows don't penetrate its skin!"

"I can certainly try!" Annabelle shouted.

Yet Annabelle found it harder to pull back her bowstring. She strained to pull it back, but to no avail. The Akuma was upon her now, and she tried even harder to pull back her bowstring. She let out a cry of frustration as she pulled as hard as she could. She was afraid that it would snap, but as she pulled, the bowstring began to move. As the string moved, the bow began to change. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Annabelle, even the movement of the Akuma was slowed down.

Her bow morphed from a simple black longbow to a large black crossbow, silver string and all. As she notched the string, a silver bolt appeared just where it should have. She pulled the trigger and the bolt flew toward the scorpion-like Akuma and penetrated its thick armor, impaling the man-made beast in the head. It exploded immediately after the bolt had hit it.

Annabelle was stunned. She didn't know what had just happened and, for a moment, forgot what she was supposed to be doing. However, at a tap on the shoulder from Allen, she came back to her senses, looked at his face, grim with determination, and nodded. It was time to pass through the door and, if the two of them didn't hurry, Kanda would leave them behind. So, they passed through the door and into a different room.

This room was small, compared to the desert wall, and seemed to be one of the manor's original rooms. There was only one table, one chair, and one book within the small room and the walls were bare of decorations of any kind.

"Judging by the size of the room and the contents within," Allen observed, "This must be the previous master's personal study."

"Che." Kanda remarked, "Way to go Sherlock Holmes."

"What?" Allen asked him.

"Never mind, just grab the Innocence and let's get out of here."

"For once," Annabelle began, "I actually agree with Kanda." As she said this, she made her way toward the desk and picked up the book. "So this is the Innocence…" It was not a question, but a statement of her thoughts at the time.

"Great, you have the Innocence. Now let's get out of here. This place doesn't feel right to me." Kanda said.

As they exited the room, Annabelle spoke to Kanda saying sarcastically, "Oh _now_ this place is starting to creep you out."

"Bite me Sparrow!"

Annabelle smiled mischievously. "That an offer, pretty boy?"

_Now I can truly believe that she is Cross's daughter,_ Allen thought as he listened to the two of them bicker, _she has some of the same mannerisms as he does._ He grimaced as he remembered those long nights he spent working while his master went out, got drunk, and flirted with the local women. _I hope she doesn't follow in his footsteps too much…._

The motely little trio reached the manor's exit and rushed through the door. Annabelle, book in hand, fell to her knees and kissed the ground upon hitting it, glad to be out of that confusing manor.

"Get up," Kanda commanded, "We have work to finish and we shouldn't waste any time here."

"Well excuse me for being thankful that we got out of there with our skins intact!" Annabelle exclaimed. Then, she looked back at where the mansion had previously been and found that it was gone. _I suppose that, since the Innocence that was keeping it anchored to this world isn't present anymore, it has no reason to stick around._

"Uh…guys," Allen said, "We have company."

Annabelle and Kanda turned and saw that there was a girl of perhaps thirteen walking toward them. She had short, spikey blue hair and eyes as yellow as a cat's. Her skin was grey and she stood with an air of mischievousness about her that seemed more pronounced and deadly than Komui. She wore a white, button-down blouse and a blue, pleated skirt with blue and pink striped socks and black Mary Jane's. In her right hand, she carried a parasol with a spiked tip and a pumpkin impaled upon it. As she approached, Annabelle became wary of her.

"Hello Allen," the girl said in a sweet, yet sinister voice, "Did you miss me?"

"Road Kamelot," Allen said with disgust.

"You know this girl?" Annabelle asked the white-haired boy.

"Believe it or not, yes. She tried to kill Lenalee, myself, and another innocent woman on one of my previous missions. Watch out when fighting her, she has the ability to bend reality to suit her mood and serve her purpose."

"Oh Allen," Road shouted sweetly, "You make that sound like such a bad thing! I was only playing." She pouted a little bit to emphasize her innocence.

"Sounds like someone has a new girlfriend," Kanda said jeeringly.

"She's not my girlfriend, she tried to kill me!" Allen retorted.

Oh Allen you silly, silly boy. Don't you know? You're one of the most fun toys I've played with in such a long time!" Road smiled and licked her lips seductively.

"Wow," Annabelle said, "Looks like she wants you plenty there Bean Sprout."

"My name is-" Allen started, but Road cut him off.

"Actually, I came here to observe, for now, and to warn you, girl. Lord Millennium knows what you are and what part you're to play in the years to come. After this moment, we of the Clan of Noah won't hesitate to eliminate you." To Annabelle, it seemed that Road's smile was like that of the mysterious cat in the story her father had read her when she was a small child. The story was about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and into an entirely new world. Annabelle realized that she could relate to that now.

She looked directly into those smiling eyes of Road's and said, "Tell the Earl I'll be waiting and that I hope this Clan of Noah is strong enough to put up a halfway decent fight. God knows his Akuma aren't."

Road dropped her smile, "Very well then, girl," she said, nearly spitting out the word "girl," "But the next time we meet, I _will_ make you regret those words. It'll be fun to watch you squirm under my power." She picked up her smile again, laughed maniacally, and walked off.

"Now I understand why you hate her so," Annabelle said, addressing Allen, "She's so annoying! Almost like the sadistic, evil version of Lenalee."

Allen stared incredulously at her. "Annabelle," he asked, "Why do you hate Lenalee so much?"

"Simple," Annabelle said, "She's an annoying, ditzy little hypocrite who can't even defend herself, much less her friends. Besides that, have you seen the outfits she wears? That skirt is way too short for her! And the way she seems to flirt with every guy in the Order! It's just so annoying to me."

"I guess…if that's your opinion of her then so be it." Allen said, "I personally see her as someone who is a dear friend. She's someone who's kind and caring, brave and-"

"That's your penis talking," Annabelle interjected, and Allen was shocked by the comment.

"What do you mean?" He asked as the trio walked toward the town they were staying in. By this time, Kanda had tuned out the entire conversation.

"I mean that you are attracted to her and therefore you can't think straight when she's around you. I'm telling you, that Lenalee's an enchantress and if you don't watch out, you'll get used by her."

"I think you're either being too judgmental or you're just jealous of her."

"Me? Jealous of her?" Annabelle exclaimed as they stepped inside the inn. "Never! If anything, what I see is the truth! I think you're the one that's blinded by her spell."

"Whatever," Allen said as they made their way into their separate rooms, "I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

"G'night Bean Sprout," Annabelle said, "And g'night to you too Cat Man."

"Che," Kanda said, "Whatever idiot Sparrow."

With that, Annabelle, Allen, and Kanda retired to their beds until the next morning.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of town, Road Kamelot was making her way happily back to the Earl. She smiled and hummed a haunting tune as she went along and reflected upon what her next assignment would be.

"Mistress Road," the pumpkin on top of the parasol began, "Why didn't you attack them? Lero."

Road's smile widened. "Because, Lero, I wanted to see how this little 'Huntress' will affect us later," she said.

"What do you mean? Lero."

"Oh, Lero, you simple, simple little being, what I mean is that I want to see how her story unfolds a bit and how quickly she'll assemble that Holy Octet of hers before I ruin her fun by destroying her. It's simple, why destroy someone now when you can wait until they're at their happiest and get the pleasure of ripping that happiness from them later."

"I think I understand now. Lero."

"I'm sure you do. And if you tell the Earl of this I swear I will set fire to you."

Lero looked, for a second, frightened, but then he dropped the look and said to the Noah girl, "Yes Mistress Road," as they walked off into the night.

**Chapter Twelve will take a little longer to type up as it is a ridiculously long chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the previous ones. Please, tell me what you think of the story thus far. I really value you and your opinions. You are my readers after all and are one of the main reasons why I write. The other reason is the fact that I simply like writing. So yes, please tell me those opinions that I treasure so much in your reviews.**


	12. The Storyteller

**Greetings readers! Tis me again, your humble servant. I'm going to warn you now, this is a really long chapter. I kind of got carried away whilst writing it. Originally, this chapter and the previous chapter were all one, but it was too long so I split it into two different chapters and this one still ended up being really long... Sorry for the wait by the way, I have to play the wedding march and the recessional for my aunt's wedding in about two weeks and have been cramming to practice rather than writing. So, as usual, I hope you enjoy the latest installment in Annabelle's story. And remember folks, I only own Annabelle and whatever side characters that don't belong to the original anime or manga (example: the newly introduced character in this chapter). Happy reading.**

**Chapter Twelve**

The next morning, Annabelle woke up with only thoughts she'd had the night before replaying themselves in her mind. She had dreamt of a woman with short black hair that was tipped with red, and all-knowing coal black eyes. She wasn't very tall, and she was cloaked in black as she sat there, on the floor, with a book in her hands. It hadn't been just any book though. No, it was the book that the they'd just picked up from the vanishing manor. The woman was beautiful, in her own right, but she looked rather detached from the world around her, as if she weren't "all there."

_This girl must be the book's Accommodator, _Annabelle thought to herself. _I wonder if she has anything to do with the prophecy._

Annabelle shook her head to relieve herself of these confusing thoughts and got up to go eat breakfast in the inn's small dining room. Once she arrived, she saw that Allen and Kanda had already begun to eat.

Kanda had his usual soba in front of him and was quietly consuming it. Allen, however, had about twenty-or-so plates in front of him, all empty and, as Annabelle watched him, she observed that he was rapidly making his way through several more, shoveling the food down his throat as he did so.

"Hey," she said, addressing the white-haired teen, "Save some food for the rest of us Allen." She sat down next to him. "You don't want to eat the owners out of house and home now do you?"

"Don't worry," Allen assured her as he swallowed a large mouthful of dango, "I'll pay them what I owe."

"In that case," Annabelle said, eyeing the boy's plate, "Can I have that pastry?"

"Sure," Allen said as she quickly snatched it up and stuffed half of it into her mouth.

"Thanks." She said through the bulk of it that resided within her right cheek.

"How can you stomach eating sweets every morning?" Kanda asked grumpily.

"It's easy," she replied, "I just do."

"You're going to get fat," Kanda said, "And when that happens, I'm not waiting for you to catch up to me next time we have an assignment together. And if you think I'll take you to the hospital when you have a heart attack, you're quite mistaken."

Annabelle kicked Kanda in the shin from her side of the table and said, as the samurai grimaced in pain, "Don't you worry Cat Man. I exercise way too much to gain weight, so you won't need to worry about me losing my sexy figure." She winked at him as she stood up and strapped her crossbow to her back. "Now then, if you gentlemen don't mind, I'm going to look around town for a bakery. Any requests should I find one? Oh, and only one request, Mr. Guzzler." She smiled at Allen.

"Hmmm..." Allen said thoughtfully, "I think I'll be fine for now." He smiled. "I'm quite full at the moment."

"I don't eat sweets," Kanda grunted.

"You're crazy Kanda," Annabelle said incredulously.

"No, I'm logical. Unlike yourself who continues to pretend that she is a child when she's already nineteen."

"Hey!" Annabelle shouted, taking offense to Kanda's remark, "Just because I'm nineteen does not mean that I have to be a grumpy, stiff old man like you! As the saying goes," she sang, "Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is completely optional." She smiled devilishly, getting uncomfortably close to the raven-haired teen's face, "And I think I'd prefer to stay a kid for a little longer thank you." With that, she left them.

As she made her way down the crowded, cobblestone streets, she noticed that several of the shops were closing down for good. _If the economy is so good here,_ she wondered, _then why are all of these shops closing?_

"It's because of the recent string of Akuma attacks," a dark, feminine voice said from behind her.

Annabelle stopped in her tracks and turned to see who the source of the voice was, but all she saw was a crowd of people rushing by her.

"That's what you're wondering isn't it?" The voice asked, this time from her right.

Annabelle turned, but again there was no one there but the walls of a bookshop who's windows had been boarded up.

"Who are you?" she asked to the seemingly bodiless voice, "And how do you know what I'm thinking?"

"I'm a friend, don't worry," the voice said from above her. "And it was only an educated guess. After all, mind reading is nearly impossible. It's highly illogical in fact."

Annabelle looked up, but all she saw was the azure sky with the occasional ivory cloud passing by.

"Show yourself!" Annabelle commanded.

"No need to get your panties in a bunch," the voice said calmly, "I'm right beside you. To your left."

"Annabelle looked to her left and spotted a petite teenaged girl standing beside her. She was dressed in all black, black shoes, black dress, black elbow-length gloves, even her hair and eyes were black. Her skin, however, was as white as alabaster and her lips were as pink as carnations. Aside from those lips, the only splash of color on her was the red in the tips of her hair.

"You!" Annabelle exclaimed. "You're the girl in my dream!"

The girl smiled. "That's funny," she said, chuckling halfheartedly, "I don't usually get that from women."

"Sorry," Annabelle said, "Didn't mean it to come off that way. I don't usually get dreams of women either. The name's Annabelle H-" she began to say "Hale," but stopped short and said "Cross" instead. "Annabelle Cross." she repeated.

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself that that's your name," the girl said. Annabelle noticed that, though her voice was dark like the night, a slight Scottish accent came through.

Annabelle looked down at her boots dejectedly.

"Hey," the girl said, "It's alright. Whatever your issue is, it's none of my business. I'm Hikari Dodgeson."

"Hikari?" Annabelle asked. "Isn't that-"

"A Japanese name," Hikari finished. "Yeah. My mother was from Japan. My dad's British. My full name means 'Light Son of Dodge.'"

"If you're dad's British," Annabelle began as she started to walk down the street, "What are you doing here in Scotland?"

Hikari followed her. "Oh, well you see... my parents... died. In a fire when I was only a wee lass. I'm an orphan. I'm living here with me grandmother, Laura. She's not too fond of me though. It's because I'm half Japanese. So I run away occasionally. She doesn't even come look for me when I do so. It's kind of saddening."

Annabelle looked at the girl, "But it's not your fault!" Annabelle exclaimed angrily, "You don't choose who you're born to."

"Tell that to mt grandmother," Hikari said bitterly. "She won't even let me call her grandma half of the time. Shit, she won't even let me leave my room when there's company over! I have to pretend like I'm the housemaid if I want to come downstairs."

"That's horrible!" Annabelle exclaimed. "No woman should do that to her own flesh and blood!"

"Yeah. My other grandmother back in Japan can't take me either. There's a closed boarder policy over there so I can't get in. Even if I could, I doubt _she'd _take me because I'm half _British._ I'm unwanted on both sides of my family!"

"I feel sorry for you," Annabelle said, "If it makes you feel any better about your predicament, my mother is dead, the man who raised me was turned into an Akuma, and I have no idea as to where my real father is or whether or not he even wants to acknowledge me as his child."

The pale girl smiled at her halfheartedly. "It doesn't make me feel any better," she said, "But thanks for trying." She paused. After a moment she asked, "So, what brings you to this humble village?"

"Oh," Annabelle said casually, "Just checking out the local bakery." She paused. "You wouldn't happen to know where it is by any chance would you?"

The smaller girl smiled again, this time genuinely. "Of course I know where the bakery is," she said happily, "I do live here after all. Let me take you to it, though I doubt that's why your really here."

The dark-haired girl took Annabelle by the wrist and led her along the road, through the crowds of locals, until they came to a humble-looking little bakery. Even though she was standing just outside of the thick ceder door, Annabelle could smell the aroma of fresh baked cookies, breads, pies, and pastries.

Upon stepping inside, the smell only intensified, and became much more tantalizing. At the counter was a squat little old man with snow white hair and a long beard. When the two girls entered, his brown eyes lit up as he seemed to recognize Hikari.

"Ms. Dodgeson," the old man said, "What brings ye here at this hour? Usually ye don't come in 'til late in the afternoon."

Hikari smiled, "Well Mr. McMillan," she said, "I had this strange dream last night and couldn't get back to sleep this morning so I decided to take a stroll. That's when I ran into this lass here." She gestured to Annabelle. "She's visiting her family in this town and wanted to check out this bakery."

The old man looked at Annabelle as if sizing her up. "You've come to the right place m'dear," he said jovially. He looked through the glass display cases that made up the counter until he'd found what he was looking for. Then, he grabbed a wooden pair of tons and a napkin and pulled the two pieces of bread from a plate. Placing them on the napkin and passing it to Annabelle he said, "Try this. It was baked fresh by my wife this mornin'."

Annabelle gave a piece to Hikari and they both took a bite. Immediately, Annabelle felt an explosion of flavor inside her mouth. It was like she could taste every spice, every single ingredient that went into the bread.

"Pumpkin bread," she said through a mouthful of food.

"Ye've got strong taste buds," Mr. McMillan said, "What do ye think of it?"

Annabelle paused to swallow. "It's delicious!" she exclaimed. "My compliments to your wife. She's an amazing baker."

"I would let ye tell her that yerself, but she's out buyin' new ingredients at the market. Most of ours went bad last night. Damn Akuma poisonin' our supply! I'm surprised we get any business at all with them around."

Annabelle looked at Hikari, "Didn't you say there had been Akuma attacks recently?" she asked her.

"Yeah," she said, "Every night someone dies. Their bodies are nowhere to be found, but their clothes are layin' in a pile of dust."

"They've been attackin' our customers and spoilin' our food in the night! I told me wife Mary to be more careful when she goes out, even in the daylight, in case they strike again. I'd hate ta lose her," the old man hung his head and looked as though he were about to cry.

Annabelle felt bad for the poor guy. "Mr. McMillan," she said, stepping towards him, "What if I told you that I could help you with your problem?"

"It's impossible lass," he said dejectedly, "No one can rid this village of the Akuma."

"I can," Annabelle said, "I'm an Exorcist." Pulling her crossbow from her back she said, "This weapon is made of Innocence. It can kill an Akuma in the blink of an eye."

"You mean it?" Hikari asked, her black eyes shining with hope, "You can really kill an Akuma?"

"Yeah," Annabelle said, "I have friends with me too. They'd be happy to assist you."

"Ah thank ye lass," Mr. McMillan said, "Have two pastries on me for yer service."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly-"

"Please take them. After all, yer helpin' to keep me business from goin' under."

"If you insist," Annabelle said, taking a bag from the old man.

"Thank you Mr. McMillan," Hikari called.

"Aye ye have a good day now Ms. Dodgeson," the baker called back.

As Annabelle took the bag containing the pastries back to the inn, she noticed that the petite, dark-haired girl was following her. When she asked her about it, Hikari told her that her grandmother was expecting company today and wouldn't want her in the house anyway.

"Besides," Hikari said, "I want to meet these friends of yours who will help save our village."

"Well," Annabelle began, "One of them, his name's Bean Sprout, is okay. Really nice guy, just a little...off. Loves sweets and, well, eating in general. Seems to get lost easily though." Annabelle sighed and a gloomy look came over her pale face. "Then there's the other guy." she said glumly.

"The other guy?" Hikari asked, "What's so bad about him that you have to make such a gloomy face?"

By this time, the two girls had reached the inn's wooden door. Annabelle turned the handle, looked sternly at the dark-eyed girl, and said "See for yourself," as she pushed open the door.

Inside of the in''s dining hall, the two teenaged boys were fighting, as Annabelle had expected. Insults and wooden chairs and tables were flung left and right as the two battled it out.

"You ate the last of my soba noodles you whining garbage heap!" Kanda yelled at Allen.

"Well it's not my fault you left it unattended you stupid angry she-male!" Allen responded as he chucked a stool at the raven-haired samurai.

Hikari looked at Annabelle in shock. "Which one's the nice one?" she asked her scarlet-haired companion.

Annabelle smiled nervously. "The white-haired one with the deformed arm," she said, giggling apprehensively.

"They sound the same to me," the smaller girl said.

"Don't worry," Annabelle assured her, "Allen only gets this bad when Kanda provokes him." That being said, Annabelle unstrapped her crossbow from her back and fired off a silvery-green bolt. The bolt embedded itself in the wooden beam to the right of the two boys with a solid "thunk."

Immediately, the two boys stopped fighting. They both looked at Annabelle and exclaimed, in unison, "What the hell? Were you trying to kill me?"

Annabelle cleared her throat and said, "Is that really a way to conduct yourselves in front of a lovely young woman?"

Kanda looked angrily at her and said, "You can't be talking about yourself idiot Sparrow."

Annabelle glared at him and shouted, "For your information, you pretentious cross-dresser, I wasn't. I was referring to our guest." She motioned for Hikari to enter the small room.

She looked hesitant for a moment, but at a smile from Annabelle, she was reassured.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Guys," Annabelle said, addressing her comrades, "This is Hikari Dodgeson. She told me that this village has an Akuma problem and we are going to help her." She smiled, eagerly awaiting a response, but none came.

It was Kanda who broke the silence. "You actually expect us to help this worthless village with its problems?" he asked seriously.

As he said this, Hikari's heart seemed to sink lower. Annabelle, noticing this, pulled one of the pastries out of the bag and chucked it at the long-haired teen.

"You asshole!" she exclaimed as the sweet pastry flew past Kanda's head. "Eat a friggin' Danish and maybe you'll learn to sweeten up a bit you sour old grinch!"

Kanda stood to challenge the red-headed huntress, but Allen held him back. "I think it's a wonderful idea," the white-haired teen said, smiling. "We can start tonight if it's okay with you Kanda."

The samurai looked away from the other boy and said, "Che. Whatever. But if the two of you die, I'm not going to be the one who buries your corpses."

"I'll take that as a 'yes' in the language of grumpy old cats," Annabelle said smiling to herself. "Looks like we're helping you tonight Hikari."

Allen released his hold on Kanda and said to the girl, "Meet us here tonight at ten. Okay?"

"Okay," the girl said cheerfully. "Will do." That being well taken care of, Annabelle decided that it was time Hikari went home to her grandmother. So, the ginger huntress offered to be the smaller girl's body guard.

"So," Annabelle said with a sly grin on her face as the two girls walked down the street, " You seemed to enjoy the fighting from where you were standing."

"You're point?" Hikari asked coldly.

"Well, which one do you like?" Annabelle asked eagerly. "After all, you were making goo-goo eyes in the direction of both parties so it's rather hard to tell which one it is."

The short, dark-eyed girl ran her long, slender fingers through her short black and red hair and said, "What do you mean?"

"My dear Hikari," Annabelle said sweetly, "Do you have certain infatuation with one of my partners?"

Hikari looked taken aback. "No!" she exclaimed, "I do not! After all, I don't even know the two of them." She blushed.

Annabelle, noticing this, said, "So you _do_ fancy one of them." She smiled gleefully. "Which one is it?"

"Neither, but you seem to be rather fond of that long-haired one that you threw that pastry at," she said, flipping the topic from herself to Annabelle in an instant. "So, are ye fond of him?"

Now it was Annabelle's turn to be on the defensive. "No way! I already told a certain nuisance back home that I didn't and now I'm going to tell you the same thing. He is pretentious, annoying, grumpy, and a total asshole!"

By the time the girls had come to this point in their conversation, Hikari had stopped them in front of the wrought-iron gateway of a white, wooden, two-story house with an immaculate yard surrounding it. Annabelle took this to mean that they had arrived at their destination. So, as the smaller girl pushed through the front gates, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Annabelle left knowing that she'd just made a new friend, who she would not only be assisting later, but might also end up being the Accommodator for their most recent piece of Innocence. She smiled to herself as she merrily made her way down the street.

After Annabelle had left, Hikari entered the large, white doorway to her grandmother's home. Upon entering, she called for her grandmother, Laura. Yet, she received no answer.

This was unusual because the elderly British woman usually responded with a command or an insult. Hikari had never walked in and received silence as a greeting. She decided to investigate.

She searched the entirety of the first floor, but with no luck. She then climbed the stairway to search the second floor. As her foot touched the last step, she heard a shrill cry.

"Laura!" Hikari shouted as she ran toward the scream.

Annabelle had also heard the scream. She had had a bad feeling about the Dodgesons' house and decided to return immediately after leaving.

Now, she had climbed over the gate and was racing toward the entrance. She kicked the door in and listened for the screaming. When she heard it, she located its source, which was upstairs, and rushed toward it.

She found the source in a bedroom. It was an old woman in a large, high-backed chair. Hikari had already entered the room and was fighting with a girl with spiky, blue-black hair and gray skin.

"Road!" Annabelle shouted, startling the two fighters.

The gray-skinned teen stopped fighting and turned toward Annabelle.

"Well, well, well," Road said, tauntingly, "If it isn't the little red Sparrow. What was your name again? Maribelle?"

"It's Annabelle!" the ginger-headed teen shouted.

Meanwhile, Hikari and the elderly woman, presumably Hikari's grandmother, were watching them intently. Hikari stood protectively in front of her grandmother as if the woman were the most important thing in the world. Annabelle could sympathize for, if she had been able to, she would have defended her mother in the same way when her family was attacked.

"Oh yeah!" Road said reflectively, "I remember you. You're the one who lost her mommy and daddy to the Lord Millennium."

Annabelle was enraged by such a comment. She shouted back at the Noah girl. "You! Don't you dare speak of my mother and father to me!"

The Noah laughed maniacally. "Oh, how _cute_! You really do still care about those that have passed. Ah, you humans are so pathetic. Ever caring about each other even in death. Maybe you should check in more on those that you care about," she smiled devilishly, "Or you could end up losing them." She began to laugh once more.

Annabelle was horrified. _Who could they possibly have messed with now, _she asked herself.

"Don't take too long to consider it," Road said, teasing her, "They could need you right now. I could have dealt with them already."

"What did you do?" Annabelle was practically screaming. She didn't want to lose another loved one.

"Why don't you find out yourself," Road said, smiling as she created a door out of nowhere, stepped through it, and left.

"Come back here you coward!" Now Annabelle _was_ screaming. "Give me some answers dammit!"

Annabelle ran toward the door in a rage. Hikari made a move to stop her, but couldn't catch up with her. As Annabelle reached the door, it closed and disappeared. Annabelle punched the wall where the door had been and screamed. She began to cry in frustration.

"There's nothing you can do now," Hikari said as she placed her hand on the shaken girl's shoulder. "She's gone."

Hikari's grandmother stood up from her chair and came over to the two girls. She placed herself next to her granddaughter and began to speak.

"You," she said sternly, gesturing to her granddaughter. Hikari flinched, expecting to be scolded. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Grandmama-" Hikari began, but was interrupted by the elderly woman.

"You could've been killed!" the woman's amber eyes were nearly in tears. "You...you were so brave...I'm sorry, my child, for doubting you just because of your mother's blood dirtying your veins."

"Hey just a minute now," Annabelle shouted angrily, "With all due respect madame, but it's not Hikari's fault that she's half Japanese. And honestly, you shouldn't judge someone by which country they come from. One of the guys I work with is Japanese and he's not so bad." As she said this, she thought to herself, _Wow, I'm lying to the elderly about Kanda. Oh how far I've fallen from where I was when I was a little girl._

Laura Dodgeson turned to Annabelle and looked as if the teenaged girl had just slapped her across the face. She hesitated before speaking. "Well! I never!" the woman began, "Never in all my years have I ever been spoken to so insolently by a-"

The elderly woman was interrupted by a black, winged, circular golem that projected Kanda's voice loudly and clearly.

"Hey, Idiot Sparrow," he said, "Get your ass back here! We're being attacked!"

"Rodger Dodger!" Annabelle shouted hurriedly. To Hikari and her grandmother she said, "Excuse me for a moment, but I have urgent business regarding my job to attend to."

As she turned to go, the ebony-haired girl grabbed hold of her arm and said, "I'm coming with you."

Annabelle looked surprised. "What?" she shouted incredulously.

She looked and saw that the girl was serious. "I don't want to stay here where I'm not wanted. I can at least distract the Akuma for you," she said.

"Hikari," Annabelle said, concerned about the girl's safety, "It's dangerous and I don't want any more innocent people to get hurt."

As convincing as she believed her words to be, the other girl stood firm.

"I don't care," she shouted. "If I die, I'll join my parents in the afterlife!"

Annabelle paused for a moment, remembering how she had said the exact same thing when she first became an Exorcist, so very long ago. She could sympathize with the girl, having lost her own mother and step father at a young age. Both girls had family that were alive, yet didn't seem to want them. Annabelle with her biological father, Hikari with her grandmother. Annabelle felt sorry for the other girl and felt compelled to take her along, knowing that she would be a good companion, an excellent worker, and, possibly, a great Exorcist.

"Idiot Sparrow!" Kanda's voice shouted through the golem, interrupting her thoughts.

Annabelle grabbed the girl by the hand and said quickly, "Fine. Come with me, but don't get hit by the Akuma bullets. If you die, it's on my head."

Hikari smiled, nodded her head in an affirmative gesture and followed Annabelle out of the bedroom door, leaving her hateful grandmother behind.

As the two girls rand down the street, the little black golem followed them.

"Kanda!" Annabelle shouted at the golem, "Where are you guys?"

There was interference from the golem, but no answer. There was an explosion from the side of a building and an Akuma came at them.

Annabelle drew her crossbow and aimed it at the circular machine.

"What are you doing?" Hikari shouted.

"Destroying the Akuma," Annabelle shouted back at her, "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Without arrows?"

Annabelle looked at the girl and smiled. "Just trust me," she said and pulled back the string. Notching it, she refocused her aim on the Akuma, which, in turn, was focusing it's aim on the two girls. The scarlet-haired teen pulled the trigger as the silvery-green bolt formed itself.

The bolt of Innocence flew as the Akuma launched another bullet. The two collided with one another and exploded on impact. As the explosion commenced, Annabelle maneuvered away from the Akuma, dragging Hikari with her, and notched the string yet again. Before the Akuma was able to get another shot off, Annabelle had loosed another bolt at the man-made monster. It connected with the beast and ran through it, causing the Akuma to explode.

Hikari was stunned into a stupor. She almost couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't know how a girl as petite as Annabelle could destroy a creature as fearsome as an Akuma.

Annabelle pushed up her glasses as she smiled daringly at her friend. She did not put away her bow, for fear of being attacked again. She put her free hand on Hikari's thin shoulder.

"Still willing to sacrifice your life for this cause?" she asked with a serious look on her face.

The Asian girl looked at her, thinking for a second and remembering how many villagers had lost family members to Akuma attacks. She remembered how, as a five-year-old girl, she had been plagued by nightmares of a rotund, gray-skinned man in a green suit and black top hat. Or were they real-live occurrences that she had repressed so much that she only remembered them as nightmares? She wasn't quite sure. In any case, each time she saw this man, she'd get chills down her spine. He'd asked her if she'd wanted to see her parents again and she'd always been too afraid to answer him. She knew that, in her heart, she wanted desperately to see her parents again, yet, she had this feeling that, if she voiced her desires, something bad would happen. So she never answered the man.

Hikari looked the ginger girl dead in the eyes and said matter-of-factly, "Yes. I want to risk my life to save people in towns like this from the Akuma."

Annabelle smiled at her. "Good," she said, "That's what I wanted to hear. Now come on, let's find the other two and kick some Akuma ass!"

She took off running as fast as she could. Hikari stared at her for a moment, nodded her head slightly, smiled to herself, and ran off after her new-found friend.

As the two girls ran, the golem continued to follow them. Between attempts to reach Kanda and Allen, Annabelle would fend off any Akuma that came at them. However, each time Annabelle tried to reach Kanda, she got only static from the golem.

"Damn!" Annabelle shouted. "Nothing still. Where the hell are those guys?"

"Maybe they've been..." Hikari began, but Annabelle interrupted her.

"No," she said quickly. "Though I hate to say it, Cat Man and Bean Sprout are good fighters. They wouldn't be defeated by Akuma."

But deep down inside her heart, she worried that Hikari may be right. _Damn it,_ she thought to herself as she shot a bolt at another Akuma, _they better not have died on me. They have the Innocence!_

When the girls arrived at the town square, they spotted a small figure brawling with a large, ball-shaped Akuma. This one looked a lot like the Level Ones, but this one had appendages and a head connected to the main body by long, black cords.

Upon coming closer, the girls realized that the figure was Allen, and he was guarding a fallen Kanda.

"Allen!" Annabelle shouted, "Kanda!" She ran towards the battle ground as Allen's arm transformed into a large, gray gun and launched golden missiles at the Akuma, to no effect.

"Annabelle," Allen said shortly, "Take Kanda, the girl, and the Innocence and get out of here!"

Annabelle looked at him as if he were crazy. She knew he couldn't fight the manufactured beast alone, but she also couldn't just leave Kanda and Hikari on the battlefield, especially not with the precious Innocence still on their person.

Looking back at Hikari, down at Kanda, and back into Allen's gray eyes, she began forming her plan. "I'll be back for you," she said, beckoning to Hikari and motioning for her to grab Kanda's feet. She did so as Annabelle grabbed his arms. Lifting him up, they moved away from the battlefield.

"The Innocence is in the bag on his back," Allen shouted.

"Got it!" Annabelle replied as she and Hikari moved as fast as they could to get away.

They hustled through the city, Hikari in the lead, for she knew the back allies better than Annabelle. As soon as they reached a secluded area, the two girls dropped the unconscious male Exorcist and stood ready to fight. Annabelle readied her bow and Hikari dug through the bag to look for bandages. She found some and immediately began wrapping the Asian man's head and chest wounds with them. The stress from the movement had caused several of his already existing wounds to reopen and he was now bleeding profusely.

After she had finished patching Kanda up, she noticed that a large book had fallen out of the bag as she had been searching for the bandages. The book caught and held her eye, a fact that didn't escape Annabelle's notice.

"See that," Annabelle said, pointing to the book, "That book contains Innocence, the substance that will save the world from darkness. There are many who can possess a piece of Innocence, yet only one hundred and nine people can be Accommodators. I'm one of those few."

"And you believe that I am too?" Hikari asked. She wasn't quite sure if she could do it. She was just a little bookworm that liked going on adventures by herself within the town while eating Mr. McMillan's fresh pastries. She wasn't cut out to be an Exorcist.

"I do believe you can do it," Annabelle said, as if reading the girl's mind.

Hikari looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"You have the capability to be an Exorcist, and a damn good one too if I do say so myself."

"How so?"

"Well, you've got determination and a strong will to do good."

"I don't know..." Hikari stared at the face of the unconscious Japanese man, contemplating all that had happened to her this day.

Annabelle smiled cheerfully. "Just try it," she said, rising to her feet. "You might be surprised." The ginger girl gave a knowing wink and ran off to join Allen on the battlefield.

Hikari was left with the unconscious samurai and the so-called magic book that supposedly would choose a normal girl like her. She stared at the thing for a bit, taking it all in, its black-leather-bound cover, its torn, yellowed pages, and its gold book marker. After awhile, she felt movement on the ground next to her feet. Kanda had sat up.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at it like it's a zoo animal or are you going to grab it and accept what might be your destiny?" he said in his deep voice, startling Hikari out of her thoughts.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I heard the conversation. If you're brave, you'll reach for it. If you're a coward, you'll walk away from here now."

"I..."

"Choose now!"

As he said this, a Level Two Akuma that looked like a walking prison cell came bursting onto the scene. Hikari panicked and grabbed the thick book. As soon as her hand toughed it, it gave off a bright flash and, suddenly, the Akuma was gone. Looking downward, Hikari noticed that the book had opened and, upon the first page was a picture of the Akuma in a field of flowers that seemed to be spontaneously shooting Innocence from their blooms at it.

_What an odd book,_ the girl thought to herself as she closed it and knelt down by the injured samurai. He glowered at her menacingly.

Then, wincing from the pain of speaking, he said "Che, took you long enough."

She glared back at him for a moment, gave a loud "Hmph!" and turned her back to him, causing the conversation to end then and there.

They sat there in silence, the samurai and the storyteller, neither one daring to break it. Kanda was secretly hoping that his rapid healing would kick in sometime soon. Hikari just wanted to know if Annabelle and that white-haired boy, Allen was it, were alright.

In the town square, Allen and Annabelle were having one hell of a time trying to defeat the ball-shaped Level Two, who was having one hell of a time mocking them. Each time one of the Exorcists attempted to land a blow on the Akuma, the beast would dodge out of the way and laugh raucously and gratuitously.

"What's a matter wittle Exorcists," the beast asked in a high-pitched voice, "Can't land a hit?"

"Shut...up!" Annabelle shouted through deep, gasping breaths as the Akuma let out another loud, pitchy cackle. She pulled back the string of her crossbow, which was now a great labor due to exhaustion. Notching it, she waited for the arrow to materialize.

"Well my wittle Exorcists," the Akuma said, "You may not be able to land a hit, but I sure can!" It laughed and flung its large, circular hands toward both of the Exorcists.

Allen was able to dodge the fist coming toward him. He jumped up onto the outstretched hand and, turning his Anti-Akuma weapon from cannon to sword, ran up the black cord that connected the hand to the body. Yet, as he came near the body, he was knocked off balance by the other hand. He had meant to cut the body, yet, instead, he ended up cutting off the arm he had previously been standing on.

Annabelle, however, wasn't even lucky enough to dodge the first blow. The right fist connected with her stomach, causing her to cough up blood and slam into a brick wall. The impact of her body on the wall. The impact of her body on the wall caused her finger on the hand holding her bow to slip and pull the trigger, sending the silvery-green bolt up into the atmosphere. She blacked out minutes after the impact.

"Annabelle!" Allen shouted, believing her to be dead. "No!" Turning to the Akuma, he shouted as he rose from the ground, "You bastard! You've killed her!"

The Akuma glanced at the unconscious ginger stuck to the wall and asked "I did?" He glanced at her gain and began to believe it, "I did!" he exclaimed. "Oh goody! The Master will be so proud of me!"

As the Akuma celebrated, Allen became more angry. "Arrah!" He screamed. "Stop laughing! I'll kill you for this!"

The white-haired teen rushed toward the mechanical monster again, this time taking a giant leap and landing on the middle of the right arm. Sprinting up the limb, he readied his left arm for attack. The Akuma attempted to shake the Exorcist off, but Allen was persistent. He made it to the body of the beast and dashed up toward its head. The Akuma, desperate to shake his opponent off of itself, began to move and jerk about rapidly. The gray-eyed teen hung on and was just about to strike when, out of the blue, and iridescent green bolt carved a large hole through the Akuma's head.

Allen jumped down just in time for the Akuma to explode. He looked at the brick wall where Annabelle had crashed. She was bruised and bleeding and barely standing, but she was alive. She was on her knees and leaning on her bow for support. Her breathing was labored and she looked about ready to collapse.

Allen heard the sound of footsteps behind him as Hikari approached him, carrying the book in her left hand and supporting a limping Kanda with her right shoulder.

"Annabelle," Allen exclaimed with a relieved smile upon his face, "You're alive!"

The ginger-haired archer smiled at him feebly, wincing in pain as she did so, and spoke in a voice so strained that it was almost a whisper. "Well," she said, "What the hell did you expect?"

Then, suddenly, she collapsed again. Allen rushed toward her to keep her skull from cracking on the cobblestone streets. Hikari stayed where she was to keep supporting Kanda.

Allen lifted Annabelle's unconscious body onto his shoulders and carried her back to the the inn with Hikari and Kanda following close behind.

**Thank you for enduring this ridiculously long chapter. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It is my intention to come up with decent back-stories for the characters I've created for this story, which is how Hikari's racist grandmother came to be. The next chapter probably won't come for a while because it's still being written down. I appreciate you all, I really do, and the opinions you have. So if you like the story thus far or you think I need to fix something (other than grammar, I already know I need to fix that) let me know and I'll do my best to fix it to make your reading more pleasant.**


	13. Road Song

**Hello readers. It's me again. This chapter is based on an episode of the anime (if I told you which one it would spoil the chapter), with several changes added to avoid copyright issues and obviously to add my character into it. So, without further stalling for time, I present to you this chapter and remind you that I own absolutely nothing that you've seen in the show or read in the manga.**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Back at the inn, Allen contacted Headquarters and informed Reever of their current situation. The Australian man was quite concerned about the ordeal with Annabelle an arranged for a Finder to escort them back to Headquarters. When Allen asked why, Reever told him that he had two separate assignments for him and Kanda. In the meantime, all that the three conscious teens could do was wait.

As the white haired Exorcist leaned up against the wall in contemplation of the day's events, Hikari approached him. He didn't notice her until she'd come up beside him and joined him at the wall.

"How is she?" Allen asked, genuinely concerned for the ginger-haired girl's life.

Hikari sighed sorrowfully. "Still unconscious," she said, "But at least she's still breathing. She took quite a hit back there. I'm surprised she's still alive."

Allen smiled to himself. "Yeah," he said, "Me too. I've only just met her myself, but it feels like I've known her for months."

Hikari returned his smile and said "I know what you mean. I feel like I've known her my whole life almost. Maybe it's just me, but I almost feel as if she and I were supposed to meet. You know, like she and I are destined to accomplish something great together."

Allen looked at his new companion in shock. "You get that feeling too?" he exclaimed. "I always thought I felt like that because she's my master's daughter, but now that you mention it..." he paused, staring up at the ceiling and contemplating what to say next.

He was about to speak when Kanda entered the hall from his room, his previous injuries absent from his person. "What the hell are you lovebirds discussing outside of my room that's so damn important?" he asked, his grumpy demeanor unfortunately still remained with him.

The other two looked at him, then looked at each other, and blushed.

"We're not-" Hikari began defiantly.

"L-lovers?" A;;em stammered nervously.

Kanda gave them his trademark angry stare and said, "Che...Whatever," with the usual indifference.

"You're looking well," Allen said, desperately seeking a way to change the subject.

Kanda gave him a look that said, "Yeah, so," turned his back on them, and disappeared back into his room.

"What was that about?" Hikari asked.

"Let's just say that Kanda's never really been a big conversationalist and leave it at that." Allen said, remembering each argument that he and Kanda had gotten into with one another.

"I think he can be nice in his own way if you really think about it," Hikari said, reflecting on the conversation she'd had with him only a few hours ago. _Has it really only been that long ago, _she thought to herself.

To Hikari, it felt like ages since the battle with the Akuma army and her personal fight with that strange, gray-skinned girl. _Who exactly was she? And why did she attack my grandmother? Was it to get to me? Does she know something I don't? _She decided she'd ask Annabelle. _If she ever wakes up that is. No,_ she scolded herself, _I mustn't think that way. _When_ she wakes up I'll ask her._

Two days later, Allen had left to meet up with Lenalee in Belgium for their mission. Kanda had left yesterday for his mission in Copenhagen. Hikari was still deep in thought about the mysterious gray-skinned girl whom Annabelle had seemed to know.

The sound of the inn's entrance opening and closing interrupted her thoughts. She went to go check and see who, or what, it was.

Upon entering the dining room of the inn, she spotted a bald, pale-skinned man with bandages over his nose and mouth. He wore a white uniform and carried a strange communications device on his back.

"Hello," the man said, "My name is Toma. You must be the new Accommodator."

"Yes," Hikari said, "I am. I'm Hikari." She said, "It's nice to meet you Toma."

"It's nice to meet you as well," Toma offered his hand for her to shake. Hikari took it as Toma explained who he was and why he was here. He also explained to her what a Finder's job was. "Where are the injured parties?" he asked her.

"Kanda's fully recovered and left for Copenhagen already," Hikari informed the Finder, "Annabelle's still unconscious in her room. I watched over her all night."

"Very well," Toma said. "I've got your tickets for the train back to London. It'll be much easier for you to travel back to Headquarters like this with an unconscious party member than it would with you carrying her on foot. The train leaves the station in a few hours."

"Okay," Hikari said, nodding her head to show that she understood. She motioned for the Finder to follow her to Annabelle's room. The two of them lifted the comatose Exorcist onto Toma's back, and exited the inn. Hikari led the way to the station.

Meanwhile, Annabelle was caught in an endless cycle of dreams. Some of which were pleasant, others of which, less so.

The current dream was, in fact, a nightmare. And, just like almost every nightmare she'd ever had, this one felt real.

In this one, she wasn't directly part of the action, she was, instead, an observer. And what she was observing was her master's carriage. It was moving along smoothly to it's destination, wherever that was, and all seemed to be well.

Then, suddenly, the wooden coach stopped in it's tracks. Annabelle was, for a moment, confused. Then, she saw the source of the carriage's halting. Two giant Akuma stood in front of it, both of which looked like medieval knights. Standing next to the two Akuma were two smaller figures. One of them, she recognized as the girl who, for the past two days, had been a thorn in her side, the infamous Road Kamelot.

The other, however, was a man whom she'd never seen before. Like Road, this man's skin was gray and his eyes were yellow. However, that was where the similarities ended. Where her hair was unruly, spiked, and blue; his was black, curly, and neatly slicked back underneath an expensive-looking black top-hat. He was dressed in a long, black formal coat and black slacks with a white button-down shirt underneath. He had the look of a ruthless nobleman about him and Annabelle didn't like it.

There was another similarity that Annabelle hadn't noticed before in the two, the seven, black, cross-like scars across their foreheads. She concluded that this man, like Road, must be a Noah, and therefore an enemy.

She began to worry. Then, out of the carriage stepped three white-clad Finders. Annabelle knew they didn't stand a chance against the two Noahs and the mass numbers of Akuma that were gathering, yet she wondered what kind of powers this new Noah held.

Her master exited the carriage. He said something to the Finders that Annabelle couldn't hear, but she imagined that it was something like "Go inform Headquarters" or, to put it simply, "Run," for the three men began to run in the opposite direction. When they hesitated, Yeegar spoke more fiercely and gestured for them to run away.

They did so, hesitantly, and Yeegar, who had never taken his eyes off of the two Noah in front of him, began to attack the multitudes of Akuma.

Annabelle watched in amazement as several iron pendulums shot forth from her master's wrists and struck each of the Akuma. Momentarily, her worries had vanished. However, they reappeared shortly after the elderly General had defeated each and every one of the Akuma.

Yeegar had begun to attack the gray-skinned figures directly. Annabelle wanted to cry out to the old man, to tell him to run, that it wasn't worth it. However, wanting to do so and being able to do so are two completely different things. While Annabelle _wanted_ to call out to her master, she found that her voice had, inconveniently, left her.

So, she watched, helplessly, as her master fought, in vain, against the two super-humans. She watched as Road conjured up a giant playroom, complete with demented looking toys; and brought to life images of a schoolhouse, a classroom full of happy students, and a much younger General Yeegar.

Annabelle supposed these images were her master's memories, but why Road brought this one to her master's attention, she did not know. As she glanced down at the old man, her eyes widened in fear. He was on his knees, crying out "No, please, not again," with a look of sheer terror and utter agony distorting his physical features.

Annabelle remembered a conversation she'd had with the man when she was a young girl. They'd just finished with their first mission together and she'd wanted to know more about her new teacher. She remembered that, when he had brought up his past occupation as a teacher, a sad look had come over his face and he'd changed the subject.

_This must be what he never told me,_ she realized as the memory continued onward.

It started out like any other day. The students had gathered outside of the schoolhouse, waiting for their teacher to let them in. He had done so as the school bell rang and the students, ranging anywhere from seven to thirteen years of age, each sat down at their desks. Their teacher, Mr. Yeegar, had scanned the room to make sure that each student was there. Yet, when he came to Joanne's seat, he noticed that she didn't look well.

She was paler than usual, but he'd figured this to be normal as her best friend had just died. So, he ignored it and began his lessons.

However, as he began to speak, the students began to stare at Joanne. He turned his gaze to her desk as well to see what the others were gawking at. His eyes widened as the girl began to change. She went from a petite little girl to a large, cannon-covered monster in less than two minutes. The young Mr. Yeegar began to panic. He tried to get the students out of the schoolhouse, but the monster fired its cannons rapidly, knocking each student down and disintegrating their bodies in less than a minute after impact.

He could do nothing to help his beloved students and, as Annabelle looked down at her master as he was at present, she could see that reliving this memory was having a huge impact on him.

He was screaming now, loudly and hoarsely, in agony. Annabelle could almost feel his pain.

Pain that was magnified as Road Kamelot began singing.

"The Lord Millennium

Is in search of you.

Looking for the Heart now.

Have you heard the news?

Maybe you stole it from him.

I'll see if it's true."

She smiled devilishly as Yeegar screamed again. Annabelle watched as the man who had mentored her was tortured and driven mad by the Clan of Noah.

The male Noah stopped Road as she taunted the elderly man, telling her that enough was enough. Road sighed and addressed the man by name.

"But Tyki-" she whined.

"That's enough Road," Tyki said sternly, "Erase it."

"Fine." Road sighed dejectedly. She snapped her fingers and the room was gone.

Tyki rushed forward with what looked to be a black butterfly in his hand. Annabelle watched as her master fought against the Noah man, believing him to be the Akuma that had murdered his students, so very long ago. However, Yeegar was unable to beat back Tyki's advance. The gray-skinned man thrust the butterfly into Yeegar's chest and jumped away.

As the old man screamed in agony and fell to the ground, Annabelle awoke.

"NO!" she screamed as she abruptly sat up. Gasping and out of breath, she surveyed her surroundings.

She was in a private car on a train with Hikari sitting next to her, where her head had been, and a strange-looking Finder sitting across from her.

"Wha-what's...going...on?" she said through several deep breaths.

"You were unconscious," Hikari said as Annabelle turned so that she faced the Finder, "You've been sleeping for three days or so. We're on our way home now."

"And who are you?" Annabelle asked the Finder.

"My name's Toma." The Finder said. "I'm a friend of Allen's."

"Nice to meet you Toma." Annabelle said. "I'm Annabelle."

It was hard to tell if Toma had smiled due to the bandages over the lower half of his face, and his tone of voice when he spoke was strictly business. "I know." he said.

Annabelle searched the car for Allen and the samurai, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Where are the other two?" she asked.

Hikari looked at her, smiled in understanding, and said, "Allen had a mission in Belgium with Lenalee and Kanda had to run off to Copenhagen." A look of concern washed over her smooth features. "Why were you screaming as you woke up? Is something the matter?"

The bespectacled ginger frowned as she remembered the dream she'd had. She wondered whether or not it really _was _a dream. Finally, after minutes of contemplation, she voiced her fears.

"I think General Yeegar's in trouble." she said. She realized that she was shaking, but she couldn't stop it.

Toma's eyes widened. Hikari looked confused.

"Who's General Yeegar?" she asked.

At first, the other two looked at her in surprise, but then they remembered that she was new to the Order.

"He was my master," Annabelle informed her, "He's one of the five generals of the Black Order. In fact, he's the eldest of them."

"And you think he's in trouble?" she asked.

"Yes," Annabelle replied. "While I was out, I had a dream in which he was murdered by two member s of the Clan of Noah."

Hikari didn't know what the Clan of Noah was, but she decided she'd ask later on.

"Where was he in your dream?" Toma asked.

"I..." Annabelle began, but the truth was that she didn't know where he was in her dream. Heck, she didn't even know it it had even _been_ a dream in the first place. "I don't know." she finished, hanging her head.

"Well," Toma said, "Wherever he is. I'm sure he's fine. He is one of the five second most powerful people in the Order. It was probably just a feverish dream."

Annabelle didn't think so, but she faked a smile and said, "Yeah, you're probably right," and began to explain what she knew of the Clan of Noah to Hikari, which wasn't much. She then began to explain what she knew of the structure of the Order.

"Okay," she began, "There are five Great Generals who don't ever go on missions. What they do, as far as I know, is command us Exorcists and help explain more on why we're gathering Innocence. I've only ever seen them once, when I first arrived at the Order. You will too once we get to Headquarters." she smiled at the other girl as Toma stepped out into the car's hallway to give them some privacy. "Don't worry," she assured her, "You'll be fine. They don't bite."

Hikari giggled as Annabelle continued.

"Then there are five Generals; Yeegar, Tiedoll, Sokalo, Cloudnyne, and Cross. I've only ever met three of them though."

"Well I know that Yeegar's your master, but who are the other four?" Hikari asked inquisitively, eagar for more knowledge about the organization she'd be working for from now on.

"Well, Tiedoll's really nice," Annabelle began, "He's the one who told me I was going to be an Exorcist. He used to be an artist before he was an Exorcist. I've heard that he still stops and sketches every-so-often when he finds something he sees as beautiful. He's actually Kanda's master."

"Really?" Hikari said, "That's a shock!"

They both chuckled at this statement.

"I thought the same thing when I found out," the ginger said through her laughter. She stifled the rest of her chuckles to explain some more.

"I've never met Sokalo before, but, from what I've heard, he's a jerk. I've also heard that he was in prison before joining the Order. He's pretty tough on his apprentices too.

"I've never met Cloudnyne either, but I've seen her around a couple times while training with Yeegar. She generally takes on female apprentices and I've heard that she really cares about them too. She was an animal trainer before joining the fight. She's got a monkey on her shoulder that looks like it's her pet, but it's really her Anti-Akuma weapon."

"She sounds lovely." Hikari commented.

"She is," Annabelle replied, "Cross I've only ever met once, when I was a little girl. He came to my mother's manor the day I became an Exorcist. From what I've heard, he has many people on his team, but he's only ever personally 'taught' one of them."

"Who?"

"Allen."

Hikari's eyes grew wide with realization as she remembered the conversation she'd had with Allen two days ago.

"So he's your-" she began, but Annabelle cut her off.

"Yes. He's my father. Part of the reason why I joined the Order was to help find him. I want to see if he knew I was his child, all those years ago. I want to ask him so many questions, but I'm not sure I'll like the answers."

"Then why ask?"

"I just want to know the answers. I don't care if I like them or not, I just need..." she searched for the word, but couldn't find it.

"Closure?" Hikari guessed.

"Yeah."

There was silence for awhile. Neither girl dared to speak until the train had stopped and Toma had stepped in to announce that they'd arrived in London.

The girls stepped out of their car and made their way off the train. The party then made their way through town and wound up at the base of the cliff upon which the Black Order Headquarters sat.

Annabelle stopped there, her head hung low with worry.

Hikari came up beside her and said "You're really worried about your master aren't you?"

Annabelle nodded.

"I wish I could help you," Hikari said sincerely.

Annabelle nodded again and began walking toward the giant, castle-like building. Upon entering, she found the Order in a state of chaos. _What the hell is going on here,_ Annabelle asked herself as she and Hikari ran toward Komui's office.

Inside of the cluttered room, they found each of the members of the Science Division running to several different phones, receiving messages from Order members all over the world.

Annabelle approached Komui directly.

"Komui," she began, "What's going on?"

The flippy-haired man was more worked up than usual. "General Yeegar's under attack in Belgium," he said frantically.

Annabelle let out a loud gasp. She almost screamed in sorrow as she realized that her nightmare was becoming reality.

Komui noticed this and said, "I've sent all Exorcists in the area to help. I'm sure all will be well."

"No!" Annabelle shouted. "All is not going to be well!" Komui looked stunned at the girl's outburst. Annabelle continued. "I saw this coming while I was in my coma. I dreamt about it. Master Yeegar is going to die!"

At this point, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to listen.

"Do you hear me?" now she was crying. Her voice was so hoarse that the scientists on the other side of the room had to strain their ears to listen. "He's going to die. And there's nothing I can do to save him. Nothing at all..."

The entire room was silent as Annabelle's head thunked onto the desk. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the ginger Exorcist's sobs.

After a minute or so, Johnny Gill dropped the paperwork he was holding, crossed the room, dropped down to his knees, and embraced the weeping girl. He, too, began to cry simply because his dear friend, whom he'd watched grow from a curious little girl into a beautiful young woman, was in so much pain.

Hikari, who had only known Annabelle for a few days, felt that she had found a kindred spirit in her. She knew what the girl was going through. After all, she'd watched her parents die in a fire, wondering, _hoping_, that they were okay the whole time, yet knowing that they wouldn't be.

She, too, came up to Annabelle and embraced her to show her support.

The phone rang on Komui's desk. He answered it, talked for a little while, hung up, and rose from his chair.

"I'm going to Belgium." he announced.

Annabelle lifted her head from the desk and said, "I'm coming with you."

Komui looked at her with concern in his eyes and replied, "I think it's best if you stay here and rest. You've just gotten over serious injuries."

Annabelle rose from her knees and stood, looking the Chinese man dead in the eye and said, "I've had plenty of time to rest while I was in my coma. Please," she was begging now, "Let me see my master...one last time."

Komui stared into Annabelle's tear filled, jade green eyes and his resolve melted away.

"Very well," he said sympathetically, "You may come with, but I warn you, you may not like what you see."

"I don't care," Annabelle said defiantly, "I just want to tell the old man goodbye."

Komui smiled sympathetically and said, "Then we'd best be off."

Three days later, Komui and Annabelle arrived at a hospital in the town of Oostende, Belgium. Komui sent a short, elderly man named Bookman ahead of them with his apprentice, who happened be that red-headed Lavi guy that Annabelle had met in the library on her first day back at the Order.

The Chinese branch director and the ginger Exorcist rushed into the room where the General was housed. Inside, they found Allen and Lenalee looking over an elderly man wrapped in bandages and sitting in a chair in a corner. He was mumbling to himself and the other two Exorcists were straining to hear what he was saying.

"Master Yeegar!" Annabelle cried as she rushed toward him. Kneeling in front of him, she gingerly embraced the old general.

As Komui stepped into the room, Yeegar began to sing.

"The Lord Millennium

Is in search of you.

Looking for the Heart now.

Have you heard the news?

I was not the one he sought.

Maybe it is you.

Looking for the Heart now.

Have you heard the news?"

His voice was hoarse and throaty, but to Komui, the message was as clear as a bell. To Annabelle, it was clear as mud. However, she'd heard something about a Heart somewhere before, a very long time ago. She couldn't remember where though.

She was about to ask Komui what it all meant when Allen stood up and asked for her.

"It means," Komui began, "That the Earl is searching for a powerful substance called the Heart of Innocence. It's the most powerful piece of Innocence in the world. However, it looks just like every other piece of Innocence and has the power to destroy all the other pieces. Which is why we must find it before the Earl."

The room became silent with only the eerie song of General Yeegar being sung over and over again as the only sound. Soon, the Exorcists, the Bookmen, who had been leaning against the wall and listening the entire time; and Komui left the room, leaving Annabelle alone with her broken old master.

**Well, those of you who have watched the anime or read the manga knew this was coming. There are times when I get so into writing this story that I stop being me and become Annabelle or the character that's dominating the majority the part of the story I'm writing. This was one of those times. I almost cried while writing this chapter, to be honest. It was truly a sad piece of the story that I had to touch upon. Thank you for reading this chapter. Once again, I appreciate you all, who give me a reason to write, other than the simple fact that I love writing. Thank you. Let me know how I'm doing with a review because I love hearing your opinions.**


	14. A New Resolve

**Hello all. Me again. I hope you enjoy the latest installment of Annabelle's journey through life. Thankfully, this chapter is shorter than the last two have been. Happy reading and remember, I own hardly anything.**

**Chapter Fourteen**

The next morning was far from a good one for Annabelle. She had stayed awake all night by her master's side as he sang the same demented song over and over again. When the sun had risen to greet the Earth, she'd watched as General Yeegar's soul left it. And even after he'd gone, she'd sat there, knelt down before his bandaged old body, crying until they'd taken it away.

She felt arms around her after a while. _When had those gotten there? How long had they been there?_ She did not know. And yet, there they were, strong arms comforting her in her time of need.

She turned to see who it was, for they were behind her, and found that it was a tall, red-headed young man wearing a black eye-patch over his right eye.

He smiled to show her his sympathy. Annabelle was surprised by this. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

As she watched him, she saw a look of seriousness wash over his face as he said, "I couldn't stand to see a pretty girl like you grieving alone." The smile returned, "So I came here to let you know that you're not alone."

Annabelle looked at him in confusion, wondering what the smiling young Bookman meant. Seeing this, Lavi began to explain. "You aren't the only one that's lost him Red," he said, "The entire Order's lost a great man. We've also lost nine pieces of Innocence. True, you were the man's apprentice, but Yeegar didn't just influence your life. His teachings enriched the lives of so many others as well." He smiled sympathetically at her again. "I bet that, once the whole Order hears about his death, everyone will grieve almost as much as you are right now." Then, the one-eyed boy's smile changed from one of sympathy to one of mischief. "Besides," he said, looking her in the eye, "I couldn't resist the opportunity to wrap my arms around such a beautiful girl."

If she hadn't been so surprised by this comment, Annabelle would have probably hit the young Bookman, but she wasn't in the mood for violence. So, she just sighed and accepted Lavi's embrace.

They had remained in that position for a good twenty minutes, in complete silence, when Annabelle finally spoke.

"Lavi, wasn't it?" she asked him.

"Yeah?" Lavi replied.

She smiled slightly at him. "Thanks." she said quietly.

Lavi looked stunned by this comment. His face became as red as his hair and Annabelle could feel his heart begin to beat faster. Slowly, he regained his composure.

"Just promise me you won't stop fighting." he said softly.

At first, Annabelle wondered why Lavi had asked this of her, when he didn't even know her very well, but then she realized that it was _because_ he didn't know her all that well that he had asked. He didn't know that even though she had lost her mother, her adoptive father, her nursemaid, and now the man who had been her teacher; that she would never stop fighting until she got her revenge. She had secretly vowed to herself, that night, that she, and she alone, would kill the Earl and Road Kamelot and avenge her family and her master. Yet, Lavi couldn't know that, for he knew almost nothing about her.

So, voicing the vow she'd made just a few hours ago in secret, she said to him, "I promise. For my master, for the Order, for my family, and for myself, that I will never stop fighting."

"Your master would be proud," Lavi said smiling.

Annabelle almost began sobbing again. "It's just so hard sometimes," she said, "You know? I've lost everyone I've ever considered to be my family and yet I know I still have to fight..." she paused. "Sometimes...sometimes I wonder if I'm really the right one. I wonder if that prophecy was really for me. And if so, then why?"

Though he didn't know this girl whom he held in his arms very well, he couldn't help but feel bad for her. He knew how she felt. When he became the Old Panda's apprentice he had had to give up his entire identity in order to preserve the secrecy of the Bookman clan. In fact, Lavi had changed his name so many times now that he wasn't sure what his real name _was._ He no longer remembered if he'd ever had a family in the first place. He'd been with old man Bookman for so long that, though he hated to admit it, the Old Panda was the closest thing to a father he'd ever remembered having.

"Just remember," he told Annabelle, "You don't have to fight alone."

Annabelle nodded her head.

_But _I_ do have to fight alone, _Lavi thought to himself. Relationships, whether romantic or not, were forbidden to those of the Bookman clan. He'd gone his entire life pretending to be friends with people simply for the sake of collecting information.

He knew that he was only supposed to be an observer, but sometimes he couldn't help getting involved, no matter what his Bookman instincts told him. He knew he was growing attached to the people of the Order, and he felt as if he were betraying all that he'd ever been taught, but he figured that it was just some Higher Power telling him that maybe the ways of the Bookmen were wrong.

Even now as he held this poor, disheveled, down-hearted girl in his arms, he began to feel something within him stirring. Yet he wasn't quite sure what it was. His instincts told him to let go of her, to walk away now before it was too late, but his conscience wouldn't let him leave her. For the first time since he'd become a Bookman, Lavi was conflicted, and it was all because of a single, fragile, fiery-haired girl whom he'd only just met not ten days ago.

The girl in his arms began to stir and he let go of her. Annabelle stood and thanked Lavi again for his comfort. She then turned toward the door and stepped out of the room. Lavi waited a few minutes before following her.

Annabelle entered the room in which she and Lenalee were supposed to have shared and found that it was now occupied by not just Lenalee, but Allen, Komui, and a short, elderly man who did, in fact, look vaguely pandaesque. He was bald except for one long, twisting ponytail that stood up unnaturally and he wore the black and silver uniform of an Exorcist.

"Annabelle," Komui said to her, "This is Bookman." he gestured to the short old man. "He's the one who patched up General Yeegar before he..." the Branch Chief let the sentence drift away. He simply couldn't say the word, couldn't face the truth of the matter.

"Before he died," obviously, Bookman had no trouble stating this fact as his face didn't reveal an ounce of sorrow. "I am sorry for your loss, but there was nothing more I could do. His body and mind were beyond repair."

Annabelle was a bit peeved by the emotionless way in which the man said this, but, since she knew nothing about the man, decided to hold her tongue in respect. She didn't need her emotions causing trouble on this sad day any more than the others did. So, she just nodded and said, "Thank you for your attempts."

Komui cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone," he said, "Now that the Earl has made it clear that he is doubling his attempts to retrieve the Heart by whatever means necessary, we must do what we can to protect the rest of the Generals." he looked at Allen, "All of them. Including General Cross."

"But we don't know where he is." Allen said.

Komui smiled. "That is why I'm sending you to find him." Allen started. "Worry not," Komui said, "I'm putting all of you, as members of Cross' team, to the task." he glanced at Annabelle. "Including you Annabelle."

It was Annabelle's turn to start. "Why me?" she asked.

"Well," Komui began, "In the first place, you're now without a general. In the second place, you're Cross' only known biological relative. So it's only natural that I place you on his team." he smiled again, "You do want to find your father don't you?"

Annabelle looked at the man, eyes wide in surprise. The opportunity to accomplish her own personal goal was staring her in the face. She couldn't just turn it down, even if it meant being on the same team as Lenalee.

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed.

"Then it's settled," Komui said, "Starting tomorrow, you'll all begin scouring the world for General Cross."

Everyone in the room nodded an affirmative and then, one by one, began to exit the room to go look around town a bit.

As Annabelle turned to go, Komui stopped her.

"Annabelle," he said, "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Annabelle turned to face the man. "It's about the prophecy isn't it?"

Komui nodded. "I've received a call from Headquarters about the girl you brought back from Scotland."

"Hikari?"

"Yes." Komui confirmed. "Hevlaska has identified her as the Storyteller in the prophecy."

Annabelle hardly belived him. "She's sure?" she questioned.

"Yes," Komui replied, "Her synchro-rate is eighty-three percent, which is unusually high for someone who's only used their Innocence once. Even without that data, Hevlaska is never wrong."

Annabelle smiled, "I half expected you to say that it was because her weapon is a book and then call me stupid for asking," she said, regaining some of her good cheer.

Komui paused, unsure of how to respond.

"It's a joke Chief," Annabelle assured him.

"Ah," Komui said, "Well then," he adjusted his glasses, "As I was saying, it took you nearly thirteen years to find her. Remember what the prophecy said. You have-"

"You have to find all seven of the others before the solar eclipse," she finished for him. "Relax Komui, I know."

"Do you also realize that you've less than four years left to gather the rest of the Holy Octet?"

"Is that what they're calling it now?" she asked with a grin.

"Annabelle, be serious." This sounded odd coming from a man who owned a giant drill and built large, destructive robots for fun.

"I know Komui," Annabelle said, "I'm running out of time. But trust me, I'll find the other six. I have to," again she smiled, "I am the Hunter after all."

She turned to leave when Komui spoke again.

"Annabelle," he began, "I'm going to ask you to put the prophecy as your number one priority."

"Above finding my father?" she shouted at him.

"Which is more important dammit?" Komui shouted back at her, "Your family or the rest of the world?" Annabelle was startled. She'd never heard Komui yell like this before. "It's time you learned to stop being so damn selfish and learn a little patience."

Annabelle was speechless. She remembered how, when she had first started out, General Yeegar had tried to teach her the very same lesson on their first mission together. _Funny how I never learned it until after he died,_ she thought bitterly.

She sighed. "You're right Komui," she said, "I'll focus on the prophecy. Hey," she smiled, "Who knows? I might find him while I'm looking for the other six. Now, I found the Storyteller. So which one's next on the list?"

Komui looked at the ceiling, trying to remember the order in which the eight warriors were supposed to be gathered.

Finally, after a few moments, he spoke. "I believe that the next person you must find is the Warrior."

Annabelle put on a confident look to mask the turmoil inside of her. "Then I guess I'd better get going," she said as she left the room.

**Thank you for reading. I warn you now, school has just started for me so I may not be posting as much as you or I would like. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for all your reviews, I truly appreciate them. I hope to finish this story by the time I graduate high school in June, but I don't know if that'll happen. We'll see though won't we? And if you want to check out what I imagine Annabelle to look like, check out my gallery on DeviantArt at **.com/**. ****Thanks again.**


	15. Damsel in Distress, Oh Great!

**Sorry about the delay guys. It's my senior year of high school and I've been really busy getting ready for college and stuff that'll go down after high school. I've also been taking AP courses so that's really been putting stress on me too. I've just now gotten a break from homework and senior paper research so I decided to appease my fans who are wondering "What's gonna happen next?" and type up this chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it and I thank you for the reviews, the love, the reading of this in general, and for putting up with my lack of posting. Remember, I own nothing but the characters not mentioned or seen in the manga/anime nor do I own the concept or storyline of the anime.**

**Chapter Fifteen**

The next day, Annabelle began her search for the Warrior, the second member of the so-called Holy Octet. She decided that she'd start out at the far western end of Europe's mainland, in Portugal, and slowly make her way eastward, through Asia, across the sea to America, and then head southward to South America. She figured it was a pretty decent traveling plan.

Unfortunately for Annabelle, Lenalee had received an assignment in Madrid, which was conveniently on the way to Portugal.

They were sitting on a train bound for Paris and would then take the next train to Madrid where they would part ways. Lenalee sat inside their private car, while Annabelle, refusing to start an argument while on the job, sat outside of the room. She was currently reading the newest mystery sensation _A Study in Scarlet_ by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

She was really enjoying the story and the process of solving the mystery. In fact, she was so wrapped up in the story that she didn't notice the slender Chinese girl sitting next to her, practically reading over her shoulder.

As soon as Annabelle noticed her rival, she waited for several seconds, just long enough to finish the chapter she was on, before slamming the book shut. Much to Annabelle's delight, Lenalee was startled by this action.

The red-headed girl looked at her dark-haired rival and asked "The hell do you want?"

"Are you angry?" Lenalee asked her.

"Annabelle was, in fact, irritated, not just because she was stuck on a train with the girl who'd been nothing but a nuisance to her since they had first met, but also because she'd been interrupted in the middle of the story's climax. Holmes and Watson were currently chasing down the murderer in the story and she really wanted to see if they would succeed.

However, she still wasn't in the mood to start any sort of conflict. So, Annabelle swallowed, and nearly choked on, her frustration, sighed, and said, "Not really. Just a tad peeved that you were reading over my shoulder. I get nervous when people do that."

"Sorry," Lenalee said quietly.

There was silence between the two girls for awhile. Then, finally, Lenalee spoke.

"I'm sorry about General Yeegar," she said. Annabelle was surprised to find sincerity in her voice.

She remained silent, lost in her thoughts.

Lenalee spoke again. "He was a great man. Wonderful teacher too." She smiled. "I first met Yeegar when I was five, shortly before you arrived at the Order. He taught me so much and I really hoped that I'd become his apprentice. Then you came along and were so much more than I was and I guess I just wanted to see what kind of person you were so I came up to you."

She paused, as if expecting a reply from Annabelle. When none came, she continued.

"I don't know how, but I guess I angered you. But no matter how many times you were mean to me, I kept trying to be your friend. Then I found out that you'd become Yeegar's apprentice and I tried even harder to befriend you in hopes of getting closer to my goal. I thought that, if he liked you and that you liked me, then maybe he'd like me too. Stupid isn't it?"

Annabelle's silence continued. She knew that if she spoke, an argument would start, and she wanted to show her master, who might have been watching her from the afterlife, that she'd learned one of his most valuable lessons, control over her emotions. More specifically, her temper.

"Then you left and I became a part of Cross's team," Lenalee continued, "I admit, I was jealous at first, which is the real reason why I told everyone that Cross was your father. I wanted to bring you down a few pegs. I thought that if everyone knew you were his daughter, you'd be placed on Cross's team when you returned. I got over my jealousy eventually and forgot about the incident. I grew up and so did you." She smiled and Annabelle wondered if that statement was meant to be sincere or ironic.

_The truth is,_ Annabelle thought,_ I haven't grown up. I still act like I did when I was seven. It's pathetic and I really should act my age. That's why I'm not going to start a fight with Lenalee today._

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you have me in the first place." Lenalee looked at Annabelle expectantly.

Still, Annabelle said nothing. There was silence for a long while. Annabelle stared at the closed book in her hands as Lenalee stared at her.

Finally, Lenalee broke the silence again. "Aren't you going to apologize to me?" she asked.

"Nope." Annabelle said, still focused on the book that she'd rather be reading at the moment. Considering exactly what it was that Annabelle was to her. "Such a..."

Annabelle stood up, grasping her book tightly in an attempt to control herself. "Such a...what?" she asked coolly.

"Such a...such a stubborn bitch!" Lenalee shouted, clasping her hands to her mouth as the tears came into her violet eyes.

Annabelle was surprised. She wasn't sure that she'd ever remembered hearing Lenalee curse. In fact, Annabelle had thought the girl incapable of if. Nevertheless, Annabelle kept her cool, shrugged her shoulders, and left the train. For, by now, they had arrived in Paris.

There were no more words between the two girls as the boarded the train for Madrid. Annabelle had continued to read her book outside of the car's room while Lenalee sat in deep thought within the compartment.

She still wondered why Annabelle hated her so much and why the shorter girl wouldn't tell her the reason why she hated her.

_She must have a reason, _Lenalee thought to herself._ Why can't she just trust people with her burdens? Does she know that she doesn't have to bear them alone? She's worse than Kanda at times, I swear!_

Lenalee gazed at the doorway that would lead her into the hallway where the emerald-eyed girl sat alone. _Could it be the fact that she gets it from her father? Why does she always insist on being alone?_

However, contrary to Lenalee's beliefs, Annabelle wasn't alone at the moment. At present, she was surrounded by the characters within her precious book. She had decided that Dr. Watson was her favorite, she could relate to him. Almost.

In her eyes, the entirety of the Black order was like Sherlock Holmes. They always seemed to know more, and be able to guess more, about herself than she could, just as Holmes did with everyone he met. While she was poor Dr. Watson, lost in all of the information and unable to figure out how all of this information was found, how it all connected to the mystery of what exactly it was that she was supposed to do.

Eventually, while reading, her thoughts turned to other matters. Firstly, they focused on the current nuisance in the compartment that was just through the door on her right, Lenalee Lee.

_Why the hell does she insist upon becoming my friend even though she knows that I don't like her,_ she asked herself. _She's just wasting her time. She needs to learn to stay out of my battle, to mind her own damn business, and to recognize when her help isn't wanted or needed._

She turned the page, not only in her book, but in her thoughts as well. _And what's with that Lavi guy? He seems nice, but I hardly know him. I don't know much about the Bookmen, but aren't they supposed to be mere observers? If so, then why did he ignore his training to comfort me? He barely knows me!_

She looked back on the moment, the events of those few hours playing in her head like a slide show. _Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that he was considerate enough to try to make me feel better. I'm __just confused as to _why_ he did so._

It had been over twelve years since anyone had held her in an attempt to comfort her. The last person who had done so was..._Clara_, Annabelle thought, _the day we found out that Papa was sick._

A tear drop landed on the pages of the open book, making the parchment swell in the spot where it had landed. It was times like this where she really wished that her nanny was still alive. Sure, she loved her mother dearly, but no one was better at chasing away her sorrows than Clara. Claudia Hale just wasn't good at giving comforting words.

Annabelle put an hand to her face and found that there were tears streaming down her cheeks. She wiped them from her eyes. She was tired of crying, tired of being miserable. Just once in her life she wanted to be happy again, like she used to be before the massacre at her mother's manor.

Annabelle made a mental list of lifetime goals in her head. First was to get the prophecy over with. Then came finding her father. She figured she'd find happiness somewhere in between. Having made the list, she turned her attention back to her book. _I'm never going to get this book finished if I keep interrupting myself like this,_ she said, scolding herself for her lack of focus.

Hours passed and Annabelle had finally finished the book, satisfied that Holmes and Watson had caught the murderer. She was now free to think about whatever she wished. However, she couldn't decide what it was, exactly, that she wanted to think about. She ended up spending the entire rest of the train ride thinking about what to think about.

The train stopped at an elaborate train station in Spain's capital city of Madrid and the girls exited their car. Lenalee had gotten off first and already had departed for her mission. Annabelle was about to get on the train to Lisbon when she heard screaming coming from the opposite direction.

"Ah crap!" she cursed as she recognized the scream as Lenalee's. She ran towards the sound of the other girl's voice. "Why the hell did she have to get herself kidnapped at a time like this?" she asked as she sprinted after the assailant. "Doesn't she know I've got a train to catch?"

Eventually, she caught sight of Lenalee, draped over the shoulder of an extremely tall man in a long black trench coat. The man turned into a dark alley and Annabelle was sure she'd had him. Yet, when she, herself turned into the alley, she found that no one was there.

Annabelle was stumped. She wondered how in the world the man could have gotten away from this. It was a complete dead end. There was no fence to hop, no doors to go through, no way out. It was an alley formed by three tall buildings. There wasn't even an open window to crawl through!

In the middle of her wonderings, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me _Senorita," _a rich male voice said from behind her. She turned to find a tall, muscular man with curly coal black hair and amber eyes. His skin was deeply tanned and he wore a white cotton shirt and tan pants made of a coarse material that Annabelle couldn't identify. He was dirty and ragged, but, oddly attractive.

"Yes?" Annabelle asked him.

"Were you just chasing a man running of with a girl slung over his shoulder?" he asked.

"Yes," Annabelle said, wondering who this stranger was and why he was so interested to know about what she was doing.

He smiled at her and she noticed that his teeth were perfectly white. "She's cute, no?" he said.

Annabelle smacked her hand against her forehead. She hadn't guessed that he'd ask her _that_. She expected something along the lines of: "Let me help you," or "He went that way" and a point in some random direction.

However, just as she was about to leave and look for Lenalee, the man spoke again. "It would be a shame if something bad happened to such a beautiful woman as she."

Annabelle grabbed the man by the collar of his white shirt, turned him around, and slammed him against the stone wall of a tavern.

"Who are you?" she asked him sternly, "And what the hell do you know about this?" she looked him dead in the eyes, glaring so hard that she began to develop a headache. "I swear to God if I miss my train to Portugal because one of your flunkies kidnapped a girl that I don't even like, but that I've got a moral obligation to save, I am going to make your life miserable for the rest of the time that I'm in this country!"

The man cringed in pain and in fear. _This girl's like a wild dog,_ he thought. _I better answer her before I get the sexy beaten out of me. My charm obviously doesn't work on her so I might as well try being serious._

"My name is Antonio," he said, "I have no surname for I have no family and do not remember my parents. My friends call me Minotauro."

"Well, _Minotauro,_" Annabelle said, practically spitting out the man's nickname in disgust, "What do you know about the man who kidnapped the girl I was with?"

Antonio swallowed and said in a forced manner, "I know nothing! I saw the man walking toward the train station and I went to follow him because he looked suspicious. Then I saw him running off with that girl over his shoulder and you following him and I followed you in hope of seeing the pretty girls and maybe getting a girlfriend out of the situation." He smiled to show the girl that he was sincere.

Annabelle saw this in his eyes and released him. "Not. Interested." she said as she walked off toward the tavern that she'd slammed Antonio up against.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he stepped toward her.

"To gather information," she said tersely.

The Spaniard looked at the tavern and his eyes grew wide with fear.

"_Senorita, _you don't want to go in there," he said hurriedly.

Annabelle gave him a look that said "what are you going to do if I do go in there" and asked him aloud "Why not?"

Antonio searched his brain to find an excuse and had no trouble coming up with one. "Because," he began, "it's kind of a tough crowd in there. You might get hurt or something."

However, as he looked at the spot by the door where the ginger girl had been, he found that she had already entered the building.

"Wait!" he shouted after her, "_Senorita!"_ he stopped for a second at the door and then decided to step inside.

The bar was crowded with people, as was the norm on hot days like this. Antonio wondered how Annabelle could manage in her black jacket. He spotted her in the far corner of the bar, talking to a bulky man sitting at the round wooden table.

_Ah!_ Antonio screamed in his head,_ not that guy! Of all the people in the bar to question she picked him!_

He wanted to turn away, but he knew that if he did, he might never get to save the pretty little raven-haired girl who had been kidnapped just minutes ago. So, finding his courage, Antonio crossed over to the table and the man that Annabelle was questioning.

The big man turned when he saw Antonio approaching. He twisted his coarse mustache, which Antonio knew to mean that the man was thinking.

"Sorry _Senorita," _the man said, "I wish I could help, but I cannot. I'm busy running the tavern." Turning to Antonio, he said "Antonio Dantaeus Hernandez! Where in the world have you been?"

Antonio's whole body slumped in a submissive gesture. "Sorry Papi," he said, "I was out wandering around town."

"Again?" the man asked sternly. "You're mami was worried! She looked all over for you!"

"Probably only looked all over this building and next door for me," he mumbled.

His father appeared not to hear this and said, "I was so worried that you'd gone off and been taken by Gypsies!" he said, concern growing in his eyes.

Antonio wasn't fooled. "Probably only worried about not having anyone to work the bar while you get drunk and get into another fight with a customer." he mumbled again.

Still, the mustached man didn't hear him. Annabelle began inching away from the table, towards the door. She didn't want to get involved in this strange man's family affairs.

"And when, on your little outings around town, are you gonna bring a girl home?" the man continued.

_When you stop acting like a drunken ass,_ Antonio thought to himself. He didn't dare say these things aloud for he knew how bad his father's temper was when he'd been drinking. He'd experienced his father's rage quite often as a child. Several beatings with his father's belt and the lack of comfort from his mother had taught him that he couldn't rely on anyone but himself. Yet still, he listened to his father's drunken ramblings.

By this time, Annabelle had made her way to the tavern's exit and was just about to leave. She had a feeling that if she stayed, somehow things would get worse. However, just as she'd opened the door and was about to pass through it, there was a loud CRACK! and the whole place went silent.

"That'll teach you to run off into town without permission and without even bringing a woman home to show for it!" The voice of the mustached man shouted from the table across the room.

Annabelle suspected that the big man had slapped Antonio or something and, though she still had to save Lenalee, she also felt a moral obligation to step in and see what was going on.

_Lenalee or the new stranger who might be able to help me find Lenalee,_ she asked herself. She sighed. "Just when I thought this day was going to be a good one. Sorry Lenalee," she said to an absent Lenalee as she turned and crossed the room to the source of the commotion, "But this is so that I don't have to spend an entire week of my life looking for you're stupid ass."

She arrived at the table and said, "What's you're problem bub?"

The man looked at her as if she'd slapped him in the face. "Stay out of this," he slurred, "This is none of your concern."

Annabelle grabbed the man by the shirt and pulled him closer. She could smell the dour odor of alcohol on him as she put her face in front of his. "Well I'm making it my concern," she said sternly, "Your son witnessed the kidnapping of one of my coworkers, albeit my least favorite coworker, but a coworker nonetheless. And he's gonna help me get her back so I need him in one piece because if I don't get this coworker back, her brother, who is my boss, will have my hide!" She was practically spitting on the man she was yelling so fiercely.

The rest of the crowd began to slowly make their way toward the door, knowing what would happen and not wanting to be in the way when it did.

"You just made a big mistake _Senorita,_" the man said as he threw her against the wall. "Nobody tells me how to raise my son!"

Annabelle peeled herself off the wall, brushed the few crumbs of mortar that had fallen on her jacket off of it, and popped her neck back into place. She smiled sheepishly, "You think that's gonna take me down old man?" she asked. She chuckled devilishly. "About a week ago I got slammed up against a brick wall so hard that the imprint of my body is probably still there. Sure," she shrugged her shoulders, pausing for effect, "I was in a coma for a couple of days and had severe internal and external injuries, but thanks to my company doctor, I think I healed up rather well."

The rest of the customers were amazed. They had never seen anyone, let alone a short, slender girl, get up from being thrown against a wall as quickly as Annabelle had. _Who is this girl? _Antonio wondered. _And how does she recover so quickly from being injured?_

However, despite Annabelle's speech, the drunken man wasn't phased by this at all. He stumbled toward her and swung his fist. She dodged it with ease, causing him to punch the wall. He screamed in agony, but wheeled around and tried to hit her again. Annabelle ducked and lunched at the man's swollen belly.

Her shoulder connected with it and the man gagged. Then, she backed up and hit him straight in the stomach, again, so hard that he actually vomited. Annabelle would've been happy that she'd taught the man a lesson, the lesson being don't fight while drunk, if the big man hadn't vomited in _her_ direction. Needless to say that whatever the man had just eaten was now all over her Exorcist's jacket, which she was glad to have zipped up in order to hide her corset before coming into the tavern. Still, it was a nice jacket and she would now have to either wash it or get it replaced.

It was just as the man fell flat onto the ground that the door to the bar opened and a large-breasted woman with a tiny waste walked in.

Noticing the man on the floor, she shouted "Bartello!" and ran to him. "Did you drink yourself stupid again?" she asked.

Bartello gave no reply. The woman turned to Antonio, "Where were you?" she asked harshly, "And why weren't you watching him?"

"Mami I..." he began, but Annabelle interrupted.

"He was with me Madame." she said, trying to save herself from having to beat up the poor guy's mother as well.

"And who are you?" the woman asked impatiently.

"I'm a friend of his," Annabelle said, "My name's Annabelle Cross."

The woman smiled, "Well, I hope Bartello didn't give you too much trouble. I'm Carmen, Antonio's mother."

"Pleased to meet you," Annabelle said politely as she crossed to the door, "And it's fine. I was just leaving anyway. I've got to go find a coworker of mine."

As she opened the door, Carmen said, "It was really nice meeting you."

Annabelle left the bar with no more trouble, which she was glad of. She figured that her train had left by now and thus she decided to take a look around the city. It was amazing that, though her home country was right next to it, she'd never actually been to Spain. In fact, before her family was massacred, she'd never even left France.

She was about to ask the people in the shop next door if they'd seen anything regarding the man who'd kidnapped Lenalee when she received a tap on her shoulder. Believing it to be Antonio, she turned around.

"What do you-" she began, but stopped when she realized that it wasn't the Spaniard after all.

Instead, it was the tall, dark-haired Noah from the dream she'd had of her master's death, the one whom Road had addressed as Tyki. Annabelle would never forget that name, for it was he who had caused General Yeegar's injuries.

"You!" Annabelle said harshly.

The man looked at her in confusion and Annabelle remembered that she hadn't actually _met _him in person before.

"Sorry," she said, "I thought you were somebody else," and she began to walk away, fearing that she'd blown her cover.

"Annabelle Cross," Tyki said, stopping her in her tracks. His voice was smooth and light. Annabelle figured him to be at most a baritone.

She turned slowly. "H-how do you know my name?" she asked him nervously. She was afraid that he'd pull one of his butterflies out and attack her with it.

The Noah smiled seductively. "The old man's last words to us. I believe they were 'Annabelle, you're safe, I hope.'" He paused and then said, "Also, the Earl knows all about the Huntress who will assist the Fool in his errand. And, thanks to Road, everyone in the Clan of Noah knows that the Huntress is the daughter of the infamous General Cross."

The Noah man stepped forward. Annabelle stepped back. "What are you going to do to me?" she asked him, her hand slowly groping for the crossbow on her back.

Tyki grinned. "The same thing I did to your companion," he said simply, "Take you somewhere where you and I won't be bothered."

Annabelle barely had time to pull her crossbow and loose a bolt before the Noah tackled her to the ground. Annabelle was stunned, for the arrow had passed right _through_ him without doing any damage. She was helpless. She couldn't shoot the man and she couldn't get out from under him, thus killing her inference that he was a phantom of sorts. Phantoms weren't as solid as this Noah.

Tyki grabbed the jade-eyed girl and slung her over his shoulder. Leaving her crossbow where it fell, Tyki told himself that he'd come back for it later. Kicking it behind a barrel outside of the pub, he walked off with the poor Exorcist unable to do anything about it.

**Once again guys, sorry for the wait. I thank you for your patience and I regret to inform you that Chapter Sixteen may not be up for awhile because firstly, I'm not done writing it out on paper, and secondly, senior year is a killer where I live. Research paper rough draft is due soonish, presentation next semester, community service that I still have to complete. So much to do so little time to type. Please be patient with me. Love you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one gets a bit gruesome. Let me know what you think of this one as I love to hear your opinions and I'll reply to you if I can.**


	16. Rescued By a Stranger?

**Hey guys, long time no see right? Sorry about that. Been working hard on my homework and school and stuff that I haven't had much time to post anything. Thank you for your patience friends. Now that I've got some free time, let's get back to the story. Shall we? And remember, I OWN NOTHING! Well, except Annabelle and various other characters that don't appear in the anime or manga. The rest is owned by the lovely Katsura Hoshino. Enjoy.**

**Chapter Sixteen**

Antonio Hernandez had spent the last thirty minutes listening to his mother spout insults about him, how he was more of a daughter than a son, how he needed to stay in an manage the bar for his father, how he needed to be a man like his father, and so on and so forth so that he could bring a nice girlfriend home rather than a manly woman like that red-head he'd met that morning. He was sick of it. It was the same thing every time he went outside and he was tired of hearing his mother's argument.

It was really the only time Carmen Hernandez ever paid any attention to him. When he was a "good boy," she ignored him as though he were just a spec of dirt on the wooden floor. His father was no better.

Bartello Hernandez was a drunkard. Not only was he a drunkard he was violent, especially when drunk. Each day, Bartello would drink himself stupid while his son managed the bar, collected the money, and suffered his father's verbal and physical abuses.

He couldn't take it anymore. When his mother had shifted her attention to her unconscious husband, Antonio suck upstairs to his bedroom, grabbed the broom handle, which he liked to pretend was a sword when no one was looking, that was lying under his mattress, rushed back downstairs, and headed towards the door.

His mother's voice stopped him. "Where are you going my son?" she asked as pathetically as she could possibly manage.

"Away," Antonio replied tersely, "Far away."

He heard his mother sob. It wasn't a genuine sob and he knew it. "You're leaving us?" she asked through her cries, "Even after we took you in off the streets as a baby and gave you food and shelter?"

Antonio turned around sharply to face her. All his life he'd thought of this woman as the one who'd given birth to him. He'd thought of the man, who lay unconscious in her lap, as the man who's blood ran through his veins. Yet, here he was now, about to leave the two people whom he'd thought he'd lied about being related to earlier, only to find that he had, in fact, been lied to by the very people he'd lied about being related to in the first place. He'd unknowingly told the ginger girl the truth! He didn't know how to feel. He was angry, surprised, confused, and relieved at the same time.

He felt as though he no longer knew who he was. He was so angry that he wanted to strike this woman, who claimed to have given him shelter from that which would hurt him, with his broomstick handle. Then he remembered how Bartello had treated him. Did he want to be that kind of man? No, he did not. So, following through with his resolution, Antonio turned his back on the family he'd always denied as his own and walked out of the bar the couple behind him owned. He no longer had a reason to stay, and he resolved never to look back.

Upon exiting the bar, Antonio noticed something shining behind one of the barrels that the owners had set up outside of the establishment for those drunks who needed to relieve their stomachs of the alcohol they'd consumed. Moving the barrel aside, he found the black crossbow that the green-eyed girl had been carrying on her back. The source of the glow was it's silver string.

_Why would she leave this here?_ He asked himself as he picked up the weapon. _She didn't seem like the type to leave herself unarmed._

Slinging the weapon over his shoulder, Antonio went off to find the girl. Annabelle wasn't it? Well, whatever her name was, she'd probably been taken by the same man who'd run off with the first girl.

Remembering which way the man had taken the huntress's friend, he marched off down the street.

As the Noah set her down, Annabelle looked around to find that she was in an abandoned stone building. It was high up on a hill that was bare of vegetation, save for a few small trees. This she could see from the hole in one of the walls. Within the room, there were wooden benches that Annabelle recognized as pews. The windows, though they were broken, had bits of different colored glass still attached to their frames and, at the front of the room, Annabelle caught a glimpse of an alter with a wooden cross sitting upon it.

_A church? _Her inner self said sardonically. _He took me to a church? This is where no one will find me?_

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked aloud.

Tyki turned toward her, grinning like the cat from a story Annabelle had read once as a child. "Why, dear Annabelle, I've taken you here to dispose of you."

Annabelle's eyes widened. "Is that what you did to Lenalee?"

The Noah laughed a rich chuckle of a laugh. "Of course not. She wasn't my target. I took her mainly to lure you to me. However, you let yourself be distracted by that idiotic Spaniard and so I had to bring you here myself. Your friend is upstairs in the bell tower, She's unconscious, but she'll be fine. I wouldn't try escaping with her if I were you."

"And why not?" Annabelle asked defiantly. "After all, it's not like you tied me up or anything."

"I want the pleasure of watching you squirm while I kill you." He crossed to the alter and lifted his head so he could gaze at the broken bits of colorful stained glass in the windows. "I've placed about fifty Akuma in the surrounding area. If you take one step out of here," he turned toward her, his expression serious, "You're dead."

Annabelle flashed the Noah a cocky grin. "You do know I'm an Exorcist right? I could just shoot the bastards out of the sky with my Anti-Akuma weapon. It'll be a piece of cake!"

Tyki about lost his composure to the joy that was welling up inside of him. It was all going according to his plan! He never imagined that the fabled Hunter would be so easy to catch and kill. Tyki would be revered as a hero among the Noah. And yet, the more he thought about that last aspect, the less appealing killing this girl sounded. Tyki wasn't one to covet attention from the Earl or his fellow Noah. _I'm not Road after all, _he thought as his dismay overshadowed his previous joy.

"Hey!" Annabelle shouted, bringing the Noah out of his daydreams, "Are you even listening to me?"

Tyki looked at her again, the scarlet-haired Exorcist was standing now and seemed very angry at him.

"I'm sorry," he said lazily, "You were boring me. And besides, you Innocence isn't even here."

Annabelle's facial expression instantly transformed from one of anger to one of dumbfoundedness. She began to rapidly ravage the entire room in search of her weapon.

Tyki stood there watching her, amused by he meaningless plight. He wondered if the bow was still where he'd left it, if some passing stranger hadn't picked it up. He knew he probably should have hidden it better, but he had been in a hurry to get away.

As Annabelle was about to flip over one of the pews, Tyki said, "You won't find it here girl. I've hidden your bow somewhere else."

Upon hearing this news, Annabelle pounced on the Noah, grabbed the collar of his coat, pulling him closer to her face as she spoke. "Where the hell did you put it?" she exclaimed frantically. After all, before it was her most trusted weapon, it was her toy bow, the one thing left of her childhood at her mother's manor. She couldn't risk losing it to the Clan of Noah.

The gray-skinned man's expression was a mix of disgust at being so rudely grabbed, surprise at the fact that she had the guts to grab him in the first place knowing that she couldn't possibly win against him, and amusement at the rage that the girl was feeling. He phased through her grasp and straightened his posture.

Taking off his top had and fixing his dark curls, he said, "If I told you that would defeat the purpose of the game. After all, it's not like you'll live much longer to retrieve it anyway."

Rapidly, Tyki rushed forward and seized Annabelle by the collar of her jacket. Smiling like a maniac, he said, "Let's do some surgery. Shall we?"

Annabelle struggled in the man's strong grasp. She didn't want to scream, for that would give her attacker more pleasure than he deserved. She squirmed and fought to get away, but found that she was unable to do so. Tyki was simply too strong.

"What shall I remove first?" Tyki pondered aloud. "Should I kill you swiftly and take your heart?" he pointed at her chest, "Or shall I take your lungs and make it so you're unable to breathe and thus cause you to die slowly?" he adjusted his finger so that it pointed to her right lung.

He then lifted her up into the air, sizing up her body with his yellow eyes. As Annabelle gazed into them with her own fear-stricken emerald ones, she couldn't help but compare them to a wolf's when it is about to make it's kill.

"I know," the man said at last, "I'll take from you various things that won't kill you, but will it extremely painful for you. You'll beg for death once I get halfway through with you."

He let go of her collar with his right hand, still holding her suspended in midair with his left. Moving faster than Annabelle's eye could see, he plunged his hand _into_ the lower right-hand side of her abdomen.

She was afraid to look. She hadn't felt the hand puncture her skin, but that didn't mean it hadn't done so. She did, however, feel a very sharp pain as Tyki's hand closed around her appendix. Once again, she refused to scream. Yet, as the raven-haired Noah pulled on the organ, ripping it from its rightful place in her body, and tore it out of her skin, she couldn't help but let loose a small squeak of agony.

Tyki chuckled at this small, high-pitched utterance as he showed her the still-warm organ. Annabelle wanted to puke at the sight of her own innards staring her in the face. However she resisted the urge to do so, instead swallowing the bile that was forming in her mouth.

Tyki readied himself to strike again. Dropping the feeble Exorcist's appendix at his feet, he said, rather maliciously, "Now then, what shall I take next?"

Antonio could hear the screaming from half a mile away. It was Annabelle, he was sure of it. He quickened his stride as he moved in the direction of the outcry. He heard her scream again and began to run.

He came across the old rundown church that he used to play in when he was younger and froze.

Drifting aimlessly around the stone ruins were several dozen monsters of varying shapes and sizes. He figured that they were the sentries and that the church was the hideout.

He wasn't sure how to handle the multitude of monsters, so he decided to sneak around them. He did rather well for himself at first. Then, after several minutes of ducking behind the gravestones in the courtyard's cemetery and around corners, Antonio, while attempting to escape a hammer-headed demon's line of sight, tripped over a rare tree-root as he attempted to duck behind it's trunk.

The monster had heard him fall and was now coming to investigate. Antonio had a sinking feeling that he'd doomed not only himself, but Annabelle and that other girl too. He was only a teenager armed with a broomstick handle for goodness's sake! He wasn't a trained warrior, no matter how many times he'd wished he was. He laid there, waiting for death to greet him. Why had he even come after the girl?

Seconds later, the beast was upon him. It picked Antonio up from the ground by his wrist and held him aloft in order to examine him.

"Mmmm..." it said in a high, female voice, "You look tasty."

_Oh great, _Antonio thought to himself in dismay, _the first woman who's into me turns out to be a demon!_

Looking left and right as though she were worried about anyone else coming, she said to him "I think I'll enjoy you now before the others come along an ruin my fun."

_Oh boy,_ the Spaniard's inner self said.

The demon opened her mouth and brought Antonio nearer to her sharp teeth. Panicking, the tan-skinned boy swung his broom handle wildly, hoping that she'd drop him if he hit her enough times with it.

However, instead of hitting the skin of her arm and bouncing off of it in recoil, the broomstick had cut _through _it, thus causing the arm, with Antonio still in it's grasp, to fall to the ground. This shocked Antonio. After all, he'd played with the same broken handle for ten years now and it had always been an ordinary handle, no matter how many times he'd wished it were an actual sword. It had to be the same handle now. After all, objects in the real world didn't just change their mind on what to be. Did they? Then again, before today, Antonio had thought that Bartello Hernandez was the only real monster in the world and yet, here he was face-to-face with an actual demon. So was it possible that an ordinary broomstick handle could change into a cutting weapon suck as a sword. Surely not.

Yet, as all of this ran through his mind, when he looked at the old, rotting handle, he saw that it _had_ been replaced by a large green broadsword. He was truly baffled.

_How in the world,_ he began to wonder. Though, as he did so, the hammer-headed beast had recovered from her stupor and was now lunging toward the tall, amber-eyed teen with unbridled fury.

Antonio acted on impulse. Gripping the hilt of his new blade with both hands, he readied himself for the attack. The claws of her remaining hand bared, the monster prepared to strike. When the blow came, Antonio was ready. He blocked with the flat of his blade and pushed his opponent back. Then, while the monstrosity prepared her next attack, Antonio readied his counter.

Back and forth they went. Lunge, block, slash, deflect. A good three minutes went by before the beast tripped and Antonio was able to behead her. To Antonio, however, it seemed like ages had gone by. When Annabelle let out another blood-curdling scream, Antonio knew he'd taken too long. He had to get inside and save her to repay her for defending him against Bartello.

The only problem was, his battle with the hammer-headed monster had alerted the other hellish guards. If he wanted to get inside before they got to him, Antonio would have to hurry. Brandishing his new sword like a warrior, he ran for the church's entrance.

By now, Tyki Mikk had pulled from Annabelle her appendix, her gallbladder, one of her kidneys, and was now about to remove her uterus. Although these organs weren't quite vital to her, the pain of having her innards yanked out of her still hurt more than any other pain Annabelle had physically experienced.

She cringed as the Noah male's hand entered her body. _Honestly I'd rather be slammed against a brick wall until the wall broke than endure this pain._ As the large, cold hand wrapped it's long, graceful fingers around her life-giving organ, she braced herself for the excruciating agony that would arrive shortly.

Yet, there was no pain, no tugging on her uterus. There was, however, a loud BANG! as the church door was forced open.

Tyki turned around rapidly, pulling his hand out of Annabelle's body, leaving her womb intact. His eyes grew wide as he glimpsed the intruder from the shadows. Annabelle's gaze shifted toward the entrance as well and, like her captor, her eyes widened in surprise as well.

The intruder, and what Annabelle assumed was her rescuer, was the Spaniard that had been following her all day. He carried with him her crossbow and what looked to be a large green broadsword. Annabelle wondered how the son of a drunken tavern owner had acquired such a fine blade, let alone how he had been wield it in a fight against all of the Akuma outside. Apparently Tyki Mikk was thinking something similar to this for he seemed to be appalled and frustrated all at once.

"Antonio!" Annabelle found herself shouting. The olive-skinned teen waved at her, a smile plastered onto his handsome features.

"Who are you?" Tyki snapped angrily. "And how did you get past my Akuma?"

The smile upon Antonio's face became cheesier as he introduced himself. "My name is Antonio Hernandez. Friends call me Minotauro." he stepped forward into the light, brandishing his oddly colored sword and readying himself for battle. "And if you mean the creepy hammer-headed she-demon, I offed her really quickly with my super-amazing fighting skills."

Tyki, his eyes on the boy with the sword said, "There were more than one Akuma. There is no way you fought through them all!"

"I'm an amazing runner. I've had plenty of practice running from my father."

The Noah was not amused. "Are you taunting me boy?" he asked menacingly as he reached a hand inside his trench coat. Annabelle assumed that the man was about to withdraw from it one of those black butterflies that he'd used upon her master. She began to fear for Antonio's life.

The cocky teenager, however, didn't seem to be feeling any fear. He raised his sword and flashed a cheeky grin at the other man.

"No" he said, "But I can if you want me too."

Tyki removed his hand from the inside of his coat and upon the palm of his hand, just as Annabelle had predicted, sat one of those menacing black butterflies.

"Antonio! Watch out!" Annabelle shouted her warning just as the gray-skinned man began to charge the Spaniard who had challenged him. "Those butterflies will hurt you!" came her cry as Antonio, brandishing his sword like a professional, charged the Noah man who held her captive.

They met in the middle, sword clashing with bare hand. Antonio ducked and weaved and dodged Tyki's lunges all while hacking and slashing at the man's outstretched limbs.

Annabelle was surprised to find that, though the sword wasn't cutting _through_ Tyki, it was making contact with him. She wondered how in the world the sword was able to do that, but dismissed the thought as she knew that Innocence was often unpredictable. Still, though Antonio seemed to be doing well with defending himself, she still worried about the butterfly in the Noah's hand.

"Antonio!" she called to him. He glanced at her for a fraction of a second to show that he was listening. "Toss me my bow!"

"Hold on a second," he called back to her, "I'm a little busy right now." He ducked under Tyki's arm as he lunged forward. Antonio took this opportunity to take a swing at Tyki's arm. The sword met the limb, but bounced off of it as though it were made of steel.

Grabbing the bow that was slung across his back, he tossed it in Annabelle's general direction. It landed a good five feet in front of her and she dived to pick it up.

Crouching low, so as not to be in the way of the fight, she took aim at the butterfly, knotched the silver string, waited for the silvery-green bolt to appear, and pulled the trigger. The bolt shot past the ruins of several rows of pews and hit its target dead center.

"Tease!" Tyki said, addressing his now dead butterfly.

"Looks like you're out of weapons," a voice from nowhere said tauntingly. It was a girl's voice and,as the source stepped from the shadows, she was revealed to be Road Kamelot.

She smiled dourly at Annabelle as she approached Tyki. Patting his shoulder, she said, "the lord Millennium has new orders for you Tyki. You're to find and kill Allen Walker."

Tyki sighed. Looking at the two teenagers, he said, "Sorry to cut and run, but orders are orders."

And, with a shrug of his shoulders, he vanished with Road into the shadows.

Annabelle and Antonio looked at one another. She could see the confusion in the boy's eyes and she longed to explain, however, she had a coworker to save. So, she beckoned for Antonio to follow her up the wooden staircase and into the bell tower.

"I'll explain later," she said to him, "I promise."

**Finally I got this chapter up and running! I've been too busy to type anything lately! Just filled out some college applications and now I'm going to type up a buttload of other things...including the next few chapters. At least until I have to go to bed. I want to get as much done as possible before tomorrow because I have to clean my pigsty of a room tomorrow. Remember to R&R friends. And I'll see you next time.**


	17. Of Surgery, Dreams, and Innuendos

**Trying to type up as many chapters of this as I can today. I own nothing! Katsura Hoshino owns all characters that I haven't created myself. Enjoy this chapter my friends.**

**Chapter Seventeen**

Annabelle and Antonio arrived in the bell tower to find a slender Chinese girl chained to the wall.

As they stepped closer to her, Lenalee looked up.

"Annabelle," she said, her voice showing her blatant surprise, "You're okay?"

"Of course I'm okay." Annabelle said triumphantly. "What kind of a girl do you think I am?"

"But you were screaming in pain."

"A minor annoyance," she said, dismissing the issue with a wave of her hand.

"She's pulling your leg _Senorita_," Antonio said from behind her. "She's trying to get over the fact that she's lost about three or four non-vital organs."

He crossed the threshold and cut the chains with his sword, setting her free.

"I'm so sorry Annabelle." Lenalee said, "That's horrible!"

"I don't need your sympathy!" Annabelle shouted at her, making her cringe in the process. Calming herself quickly, she said, "It's not like they were _vital_ organs anyway. I can still survive without them."

"Oh," Lenalee said, falling silent as her eyes fell to the floor.

"Don't you think you're being a bit too hard on her?" Antonio said, looking at Annabelle.

"No," Annabelle said harshly, "I don't. She needs to learn that I don't want her sympathy. She needs to learn that I don't need her to help me cope with my 'problems.' I'm just fine the way I am."

Annabelle walked off down the stairs and toward the exit. Antonio remembered that there werer Akuma still wandering around outside and rushed off after her.

"Wait! Annabelle!" he shouted to her, "There are still Akuma out there!"

She turned toward him. "You mean you _didn't _get rid of all the Akuma?" she asked him incredulously.

"Maybe one or two of them." The Spaniard said sheepishly.

"Then how the hell did you get in here?"

"I told you, I'm an amazingly talented runner." He smiled casually at her.

Annabelle sighed and, readying her crossbow, she exited the church. Antonio and Lenalee, who had just arrived at the foot of the stairs, followed close behind her.

Outside, the trio found that the entire hoard of Akuma had vanished entirely. The churchyard was silent except for the wind.

"Come on out you cowards!" Annabelle shouted to the empty space. "Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't fight!"

"Annabelle, I think you're being too hard on yourself." Lenalee stated, concern growing in her violet eyes.

"Nobody asked you." Annabelle slurred. She began to stumble as she walked toward the edge of the churchyard. Tripping upon a rock, the stubborn girl fell flat on her face. Lenalee screamed her name.

When she didn't get up, Antonio briskly marched over to Annabelle's limp body.

As he propped her up, he looked at Lenalee and said, in an urgent tone, "We have to get her to a hospital. I think she's lost too much blood. Her heartbeat feels very faint against my body."

The terrified girl nodded in confirmation and said "I'll call Bookman." She then rushed off toward the city in search of a telephone.

Antonio didn't want to stall her by asking who exactly this book man wasm so he silently watched as the cute girl sped away.

After she had vanished from his sight, the Spaniard picked the girl up, one-handed, crossbow and all, and carried her in the direction of the nearest hospital.

Annabelle realized she was dreaming from the moment the cat started talking to her. She had been wandering through a nice meadow when a black cat with a bell around its collar had walked out in front of her.

"My master wishes to speak with you immediately," it had said in a rich, sultry feminine voice.

The green-eyed huntress had nearly jumped out of her skin when she'd heard its voice. "Who is your master little kitty?" she asked it, "And why does he want to talk to me?"

She was startled by her own response to the cat's demand. It had sounded so juvenile, so child-like, compared to how she would have normally reacted to such an event.

Then, another strange event occurred. The cat actually smiled at her! Not quite like that of the infamous Cheshire Cat from a novel Annabelle had read during her training with Yeegar, but a more subtle, mocking smile.

"My master is someone you've not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person, but his ideals have been communicated to you somehow. He wishes to comment on the progress you've made in your quest."

Annabelle knew in an instant that this cat belonged to the Millennium Earl, and yet despite her efforts to awaken from the dream, she found that she couldn't do so. So, reluctantly, she followed the black, bell-wearing cat to her master.

They came to a small, rundown shack and the cat stopped. She motioned for Annabelle to go inside. She did so hesitantly, fearing that this may be a trap.

Inside the shack, a large, gray-skinned man in a black top-hat and round spectacles was waiting for her. She recognized the face as the one that had been haunting her dreams her entire life.

"Hello my dear," his gruff, yet somehow deceivingly jolly voice said through his large grin.

Annabelle was defiantly silent.

"And what have you been up to lately?" he asked her.

Still, the ginger huntress was silent.

"What's the matter? Lulubell steal your tongue on the way in?" He laughed at his own joke. It was a loud, boisterous laugh that echoed menacingly in the small space surrounding them. "Seriously kid, you're starting to make me angry."

"Get to the point already!" Annabelle shouted at him.

The Earl's spectacles gleamed in the light that filtered through the cracks in the shack's ceiling. "Oooh, an impatient one aren't we?" He chuckled, "Well then, I guess I'd better get on with it so you can wake up." He paused, composing himself.

Annabelle wondered how this strange, corpulent man could be so jolly after having ruined half of her life thus far. She dismissed her wonderings having answered them with the fact that maybe he was just that cruel.

"You see dear Annabelle," the Earl began, "I called you here to congratulate you on finding the second piece of the prophecy so soon." His yellow eyes gleamed ominously from behind heir spectacles. "However, I'm not going to make it easy for you to complete your little group."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Annabelle asked him. "Why not just let me find out later?"

"Well you see," he began, leaning closer to the girl, "It's more fun if you know the general idea of things. You'll try to prepare yourself for the inevitable only to have all of your hard work torn to shreds." The Earl leaned back and let out a loud, cruel laugh.

"It doesn't matter," Annabelle said to him, " It doesn't matter to me how hard you try to stop me. I'll just get back up and come at you ten times harder." She smiled a smile eerily similar to the Earl's own permanent grin. "Because it'll be fun to watch _your_ hard work be crushed to bits by _my_ victory."

The Earl stopped laughing. He leaned in close to her, so close that she could smell what he'd recently eaten. In a voice as threatening to the human soul as damnation itself, he said to her "We'll just see about that now won't we little girl?" He continued his laugh as Annabelle felt herself being pulled upward. The Earl's laugh echoed in her mind as she broke through a barrier of solid glass and the dream stopped.

Lenalee gasped as the red-headed girl opened her eyes and sat bolt upright. It was so sudden that it had startled her a little bit.

Annabelle looked around the room, in an attempt to get her bearings, and found that she was in a hospital. However, her face contorted into one of great frustration when she noticed Lenalee sitting in a small, wooden chair beside her bed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked the dark-haired girl ferociously.

Lenalee was even more surprised by the other girl's quick relapse back into normalcity. "Bookman told us that it would be best if each of us watched over you in shifts. That way, someone would be there in case you woke up." She smiled, nervously.

"Well, well," a familiar male voice said from the door way. "Look who woke up." Bookman's young apprentice, Lavi, entered the room.

Annabelle was not surprised to see him here, after all, wherever Bookman went, he usually dragged his quirky young apprentice with him.

"You recovered pretty quickly for someone who was suffering from internal bleeding. Generally people die from that."

Annabelle looked at the scarlet-haired man and, as nonchalantly as possible, said, "Well, life-threatening medical situations seem to be an everyday occurrence for me. Thrown against a wall one day," she raised her left hand parallel to the floor as though she were balancing something, "Organs forcibly removed the next," she raised her right hand in the same fashion.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Lenalee shouted at her. She stood up from the chair so rapidly that she knocked it over. "You almost died Annabelle! Doesn't that bother you at all?"

Annabelle gave the other girl a look of utter seriousness and replied "In all honesty, no. If I die, I die. I'll meet my family and my master in the afterlife if I do and if I don't die, I'll complete the prophecy. Either way, it's a win-win situation for me."

Lenalee was incredulous. Everyone she'd ever known feared dying. But yet, this single girl, who had gone through so much in her life, welcomed death as though he would be her most honored guest, her closest friend. For the first time in awhile, Lenalee Lee had nothing to say. No speeches on unity or sacrificing herself, no words of encouragement, not even a piece of advice to give the girl. She had nothing to say.

Lavi looked hesitantly back and forth between the two girls. "I think I'll go grab the Old Panda and tell him that you're awake. He'll want to check up on you Red." With that, he rushed out of the room.

There was silence between the two girls after he'd left. Lenalee stared at her feet, Hnnabelle stared at the blank off-white wall.

It was then that Annabelle had remembered something. _Road said something before Tyki left with her,_ she thought to herself. _But what was it?_ She pondered this for awhile.

Minutes later, her eyes widened as she remembered.

"Allen's in danger!" she shouted out of nowhere.

Lenalee snapped out of her daze. "What?" she exclaimed. "How do you know?"

"It was before Tyki left the church," Annabelle began, "Road Kamelot was there. She told him that he was supposed to kill Allen by order of the Earl!"

"Are you sure?"

"Would I be shouting if I wasn't?" Annabelle asked. "We need to warn him!"

"That would be impossible," a voice from the hallway said.

"But Bookman," Lenalee began as a squat, elderly man wearing heavy eye makeup, a black Exorcist's coat, and a long high ponytail that stood on end and swisted round him; stepped in.

"Lenalee it is impossible to reach Allen at the moment." Bookman continued. He's in China looking for General Cross."

"Then send me there so I can help him," Annabelle said.

"Firstly, you're not yet fully healed my dear. You've still got a week left even with your unusually fast recovery rate. Secondly, it's not my duty to assign you missions. Komui's orders still stand for you."

Annabelle crossed her arms in a huff. "Fine!" she said resignedly. She didn't understand why she couldn't go.

As Bookman changed her bandages and checked on the wounds, she found that she felt perfectly fine. As though she could take on a whole hoard of Akuma by herself. She had no clue as to why the others were so worried. Sure, she'd almost died, but the people she cared about most were already dead so she wouldn't be leaving much behind.

She shook her head. No, she would be leaving people behind. People who cared about her. Komui, Allen, Johnny, Tiedoll, Marie, Daisya, and, even though she hated to admit it, Lenalee all cared for her in some way or another. She realized that, by saying things like "My parents are dead so I'd only meet them when I die," she was being selfish, like a child. She had a lot of growing up to do. That much was evident.

Looking up at the ceiling, she thought of her master. She wanted to make him proud, no matter what. She'd always believed that growing up was optional, and though she still believed it was, she knew now that, in some cases, people were denied the option to stay a child. She was one of those people. She had a prophecy to fulfill after all. She couldn't be laying in a hospital bed dying because she was careless. She had a whole world to help save.

_And I'll be damned if I fail them,_ she thought to herself. _I'll make my master, my family, and my teammates proud of me. I swear it._

After a few hours, Bookman and Lenalee exited the room, leaving Lavi to watch over Annabelle for awhile.

As he picked up the chair Lenalee had knocked over and sat in it, Annabelle said to him "You know, I'm awake now,. You don't have to babysit me anymore."

Lavi smiled. "I know," he said, "But I wanted another excuse to sit and talk to a pretty girl."

"Go talk to Lenalee then, "Annabelle said bitterly, rolling owver onto her side so that she faced the wall. "I'm sure she's _fascinating _conversationalist."

"Ah don't be so down on yourself Red. I'm sure you've got some interesting stories to tell too. After all, it only took you two days to recover from most of your surgery."

"That's unusual because?" she mumbled.

"Unusual? It's incredible! I've never met anyone who healed that fast before! Well," he paused, "Except for maybe Allen and Kanda. But never a girl your size!"

Annabelle rolled over so that she faced him. "The hell's that supposed to mean?" she asked, glaring at him menacingly.

Lavi flinched, nearly falling out of his chair. "I-I..." he stuttered, his face flushed, "I didn't mean anything by that I just..."

"Wasn't thinking?" she finished for him.

"Yeah," he smiled, relieved.

"It's okay," she said, "I guess I should be used to it by now. I mean, I am fairly small." she returned his smile.

"I-I don't mind that!" he blurted, his face turning a slightly deeper shade of red. "I mean uh..." Annabelle stared at him, waiting for the young Bookman to finish. He scratched the back of his head as he continued. "Uh... do you want to go somewhere?" He finished weakly.

Annabelle continued to stare at him. "I'm supposed to stay in bed for a week, remember?" she asked him sourly.

Lavi's eyes widened in realization. "Oh...I'm sorry." For a second, he looked a little down-hearted. Then, in realization, he smiled. Annabelle was a bit confused by this until he said "We could always break the rules a little."

"What?" Annabelle shouted incredulously.

Lavi's smile turned mischievous as he explained. "Yeah," he began, "You're healed enough. Heck, with your rapid healing you could be healed in two to three days."

"I don't know..." she said, sitting back up in her bed. "I should listen to Bookman and stay in bed I think."

"And miss all the fun we could have?" he paused for a bit. "I'll let you ride my hammer." He smiled persuasively.

Annabelle was taken aback. Her face turned a shade of crimson. "Uh... that's a bit forward don't you think?"

Lavi, realizing what he'd just said, blushed as well. "I-I didn't mean it like that!" he shouted defensively, looking away from her as he said so, "It's my Anti-Akuma weapon." He pulled a small hammer from a holster strapped to his leg. "It's able to grow and extend and..." As he spoke he noticed that Annabelle had begun to giggle. "This isn't helping my argument is it?" He asked her.

The bespectacled girl continued to giggle. "I'm sorry," she began, failing miserably to stifle her laughter. "It's just that the way you said it; it sounds like you're coming onto me."

Lavi regained his composure. "What if I am?"

"I'd have to kill you." Lavi tensed up, "But since you're offering, let's see what that hammer of yours can do." She giggled at her own innuendo as he helped her out of the bed.

**You have no idea how fun it was to write that last bit. I had to stifle my own giggles while writing it because I was in the middle of class and I didn't want to interrupt the lesson. Needless to say that this was a fun chapter to write. I will have much fun with Lavi as a character in the future, I know it. Chapter Eighteen may not come for a long while, but I will get it posted as soon as I can. Remember to R&R as I love hearing from you guys.**


	18. Travel By Hammer

**Hey all! It hasn't been too long since I posted my last few chapters I hope. I would like to inform you all that I've also started up a FictionPress account under the pen name Cynical Bibliophile. There isn't much up there except for poetry now, but I'm working on an original story, which is currently in the planning process, that I'd like to post. But enough about that, let's get back to what's really important now. Hope you enjoy the latest installment of Annabelle's adventure and remember folks, I OWN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! With the exception of the OCs of course.**

**Chapter Eighteen**

The Exorcist and the young Bookman's apprentice snuck out of the hospital as quietly as they could. Upon reaching the courtyard, Lavi looked at her and took her hand.

"Now," he said, "I'll show you the thrills of travel by hammer."

Annabelle chuckled as he pulled his hammer from his leg-holster. "I swear," she began, "Your weapon is quite possibly the most suggestive weapon I've ever encountered."

He looked at her and smiled devilishly. "And I thought girls were supposed to be mature."

She returned his smile, "Let's just say I haven't completely grown up yet. Still working on that."

"Get ready," he said, "It's fast."

"I think I'm well prepared."

"Okay then," he turned the hammer upside-down and made the hammer expand to about thirty times it's size. He turned to Annabelle again. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked.

Annabelle nodded an affirmative. "Whenever you are."

He smiled again and said, "Okay." Grabbing the handle of the hammer and taking a more firm grasp on Annabelle's hand, he shouted "Extend!" and they went flying.

After mere minutes of flying through the air at speeds so fast that Annabelle couldn't even comprehend them, the Exorcist and the Bookman landed in Paris, France. As her feet touched the ground, she stumbled a little, and would have fallen to her knees had Lavi not grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back toward him.

"You're not going to puke now are you?" he asked her.

She slowly regained her composure and said, "No. And I can stand on my own thanks." She pulled her arm away from him and asked, "By the way, where are we?"

Lavi smiled. "Look around Red. We're in quite possibly the most romantic city in the world."

"Paris," she said, her eyes opening wide with recognition. Her mother had a second mansion in this city. Then, she realized the underlying meaning in what Lavi had just said. "You bastard! You _were_ coming onto me!" She began to walk away from him.

She didn't know why, but she now felt insecure in the Bookman's presence. She had to get away from this. She felt bad for it, but her first instinct was to run, which went against her original core beliefs. She now felt more conflicted than insecure. She needed some time alone to sort herself out.

Lavi grabbed her arm to keep her from running. After all, if she ran from him and he couldn't find her, he'd be unable to bring her back to Madrid.

"Annabelle wait," he said, his face uncharacteristically serious, "Let me explain."

"No," she said, practically shouting. The few people around them stopped what they were doing to listen to them. Church bells began to ring, marking the hour. Once, twice, thrice. It was three in the morning. "No," she began again, "I don't want to hear it. I'm not going to be the stereotypical damsel in distress! I'm not going to be like the sleeping princesses!" She pulled away from him again and ran off in the direction of her mother's old town home.

"Red wait!" Lavi shouted after her.

"And my name's not 'Red,' it's Annabelle!" she replied before disappearing around the corner.

"A-" Lavi began, about to shout her name. He stopped, thought about it, and sighed. "I should let her be alone for awhile, but if I let her go now I won't be able to find her later."

He grasped his hammer, flipped it upside-down, and shouted "Extend!"

Annabelle rushed to the old manor, hoping that it was unoccupied, but not expecting it to be so. Upon arrival, she tugged on the large double-doors, praying that they would open, However, to her great disappointment, they would not budge. They were locked.

"Dammit!" she shouted as she slammed her fist against the wooden surface.

She sank to her knees on the veranda. This had been her greatest hope thus far, other than possibly traveling to China to look for her father. Yet, while the former had been crushed by a locked door, the latter had been crushed by the prophecy, which was her number one priority.

It started to rain as her thoughts turned to Lavi. Why had he taken her here to Paris? Was it because he wanted to try to get her to love him? Surely not. Yet he couldn't have known that her roots lie in France, of which Paris was the capital. So maybe he was trying to get her to love him.

_No, _she thought,_ he's a Bookman. From what I've heard of them, they can't have relationships like that with others. But then why does he flirt with me so?_

Annabelle massaged her temples. She was so confused by this whole ordeal. She needed to sort all of this out, and soon. She had a prophecy to keep to after all. Not to mention only a few years until it had to be completed. She couldn't afford to be distracted for too long by this bewilderment. She needed time to think, to be alone.

However, she wasn't alone. She could feel it. _Probably just my mind playing tricks on me._ With that thought, she began to plumb the depths of her mind.

As Lavi rocketed through the sky, his mind was moving double-time. He searched for Annabelle through the Parisian streets, trying to create an explanation as to why he'd brought her here and why he was now following her.

_I don't know why she's taking it like this,_ he said to himself. _I don't love her or even think of her like that. Hell, I hardly even know her! I was just teasing her is all._

Lavi sighed. He never intended for things to become this complicated. All he'd wanted to do was take her somewhere other than the hospital room.

_Jeesh. You try to make friends with a girl and she runs away from you!_

Finally, the young Bookman found her. She was standing in the large yard of an even larger building.

He landed himself behind a bush in the yard, trying not to make any noise. Unfortunately for him, this was easier said than done and he couldn't help but make slight rustling noises by rubbing against the bush. He noticed that Annabelle had started a bit and was now looking in his direction. Yet, as it started to rain, she returned to her wonderings, whatever they were.

Lavi debated upon whether or not to go get her. He waited for a little while. A little too long perhaps for, out of a hedge opposite the one he sat in, came a small girl. She looked to be about twelve or so and carried a strange-looking parasol. The young Bookman instantly recognized the girl and began to fear for Annabelle's safety. After all, she was being approached by the infamous Road Kamelot...without her bow to defend herself with.

Annabelle looked up as the Noah girl approached her. A sinister smile was present upon the young girl's face, a smile that made Annabelle worry. Why was Road here? Did the spiky-haired girl come to kill her? And what was with that creepy smile of hers? These questions and more ran circles round the Exorcist's mind as she gazed warily at her natural enemy.

Road stopped at the bottom of the veranda's stairs, staring curiously at the form of the bespectacled girl seated and hunched over in front of the locked door of the moderately-sized estate.

Placing a hand upon the cherry railing, the yellow-eyed girl spoke in her dark, rich voice. "Well, well. Look what we have here. A pathetic-looking scarlet sparrow perched in one of her old trees."

"What do you want Road?" Annabelle asked sourly.

"Well I was going to play a little game with you," Road pouted, "But you're dour mood is a real killjoy so I'll just give you the message now."

"Message?" Annabelle inquired suspiciously, "From the Earl?"

Road chuckled vivaciously, much to the Exorcist's annoyance. The Noah wiped a tear from her large, round eye and continued to speak. "Foolish little human," she began, "Don't assume that every message from the Clan of Noah comes directly from the Lord Millennium. No, this message comes from Tyki, whom I believe you had a run-in with a few days ago."

Annabelle groaned inwardly. Hadn't she been tormented enough by the suave male Noah? He'd already caused her to bleed internally by tearing her innards (albeit her non-vital innards) from her person. She wondered if they still lay upon the stone floors of the abandoned church. She also wondered what more the villainous bastard could want with her.

The slender adolescent in front of her continued to speak.

"He wants you to know that he isn't anywhere near through with you, or your sword wielding friend for that matter. He'll finish the job he started, no matter what the cost." As Road finished, the Exorcist rose from her sitting position and smiled arrogantly.

"You tell pretty boy that he owes me for letting him borrow my organs for a bit." She paused for a moment, "And tell him that he'll pay for murdering my master."

Road's smile fell and her facial features morphed into an expression of irritation. "Don't get smart with me Exorcist!" she snapped. Closing the parasol and swinging it so that its sharp tip pointed directly at Annabelle, she said, " We of the Clan of Noah do not take mockery lightly, human. Remember that as you're cringing in pain."

She was about to thrust the parasol's tip through Annabelle's chest when she was batted out of the way by a giant black hammer. Annabelle looked down the handle of the hammer to find that it led to the hedges by the gateway.

She smiled, silently grateful that the mischievous Bookman had followed her against her request. She thanked him without a word.

As soon as he had seen that parasol start to move toward Annabelle's chest Lavi had taken action. He had quickly removed his hammer from its holster on his leg and made it enlarge to about five thousand times its original size. He had then swung it as hard as he possibly could, praying to whatever gods there may be that he'd hit his mark.

Peering through the brush, he saw that he had successfully saved the life of the girl he'd previously pissed off. He gave a silent cheer and retracted his weapon.

He leaped out from behind the hedge and rushed toward the veranda. Road was now rapidly recovering from her crash and Lavi didn't want her to go after Annabelle again.

His hammer at the ready, the young Bookman stood between the two girls. The Noah smirked as she stared at the Exorcist and the Bookman, masking her frustration at being unwillingly hindered in her endeavor.

"So," she began, "The princess's knight-in-shining-armor has come to defend her." Annabelle looked at the young girl with disgust. "But how will the kings take it when they find out that the paladin is breaking his vows?" Road cackled as she swung the parasol over her shoulder, turned, and walked away.

After a moment, Lavi turned toward Annabelle. "Something tells me that we haven't seen the last of her," he said, a look of concern upon his face.

Annabelle nodded. She knew for a fact that the child-like Noah would return to hunt her. Yet, that wasn't on her mind at that exact moment. What _was_ on her mind was Road's parting words. What did she mean by "breaking his vows?" Could it mean that Lavi _was_ infatuated with her? She shuddered at the thought of it. She was so lost within her thoughts that she didn't notice that Lavi had been trying to get her attention.

"Red," he said, "Have you even been listening to me?"

She stared blankly at him, "Sorry," she apologized after finally realizing that she'd zoned out, "I was lost in my thoughts and didn't catch any of it." She smiled nervously.

Lavi sighed. "It's okay." he said, "A lot's happened so far today so it's only natural that you're lost in thought about it." He smiled, "I'd be really worried if you weren't thinking at all." He took her right hand in both of his, "A smart girl like you would probably only stop thinking if she were sick or dead. And we wouldn't want that now would we?"

Annabelle wrenched her hand from his. "Would you stop that?" she shouted in frustration.

Lavi was confused, a fact that made itself evident upon his usually jolly face. "Stop doing what?" he asked her.

"Stop flirting with me!" she exclaimed. "It's unprofessional for coworkers to flirt with one another. And besides, isn't it against the rules or something for Bookmen to develop relationships with people?"

Lavi was nearly struck speechless. "Red I..." he began, but Annabelle interrupted.

"And stop calling me that! My name is Annabelle, not Red! I thought I told you that."

"Would you let me explain?" Lavi asked her as politely as he could manage with his current state of emotional confusion. The young Bookman, who had spent much of his life learning to suppress his feelings, now found that he was experiencing a plethora of them all at once. Frustration, sorrow, confusion, and several that he had ignored for so long that he couldn't recognize them anymore.\

Annabelle fell silent, awaiting his side of the argument.

"I wasn't trying to flirt with you Re-" he paused, "Annabelle," he corrected himself. "I was only joking. You know, trying to make conversation. But I do think you're a smart girl. After all, not many people outside of the Bookman clan can stomach the difficult books you read, let alone understand them. Heck! I didn't get Shakespeare until I was thirteen!" His smile returned to his face, "But I bet you could understand it by the time you were ten." He returned to his serious look, "My point is, I'm not trying to flirt with you. I just act like this to cope with my..." he paused, considering an appropriate word for what he was trying to convey to her. Finally, he found it, "Issues." he finished.

Annabelle was shocked. She had no idea that his jovial personality was all a cover-up. Then again, she also had no idea that being a Bookman could bring issues serious enough to need severe coping methods. _He's probably as alone as I am, _she thought. _The only difference is that he probably can't talk about this to others without breaking the rules. I can see how it could be hard to cope with. At least I can talk about mu issues freely...I shouldn't have prejudged his intentions like that._

She raised her head to meet his gaze. "I-" she began, tripping over those first few words, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know. It was wrong of me to assume that you had such intentions."

"It's okay Re-Annabelle." he paused, as though he were tasting her name in his mouth. "I'm going to have to get used to calling you that I suppose."

"Now that I know you're not flirting with me, I feel that it would be okay if you called me Red, if it makes you feel more comfortable that is. It's much better than what Lenalee used to call me that's for sure." She giggled then, changing her look from guilt to surprise. She hadn't been aware that she was still able to giggle like a little girl.

Lavi, too, was surprised at the bubbly outburst that had come from the girl who'd just yelled at him. _She has a cute giggle, _ he thought to himself.

Apparently he'd also said so aloud for Annabelle punched him lightly on his arm. "You're kidding right?" she asked him in a joking tone of her own.

Lavi blushed, though he had no idea as to why he did so. "Yeah," he said after a few moments. He chuckled, though he felt it was a little half-heartedly. He was suddenly unsure of his previous explanations. He didn't really know how he felt now.

Annabelle didn't seem to notice his confusion. They sat there on the veranda talking and joking for a few hours before Annabelle stood and announced that she was ready to return and that the others were probably worried about them.

Lavi was reluctant to leave. He rather enjoyed talking to her. He never thought that the daughter of a General could be so fun. However, he rose from his seated position and pulled his hammer from its place at his side. He enlarged it to a serviceable size and motioned for Annabelle to grab his hand. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his middle and held on tightly. His face became almost as red as his hair as he grasped the handle with one hand and Annabelle with the other.

"You ready?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Okay." he said. Then he shouted "Extend!" and they rocketed through the sky in the direction they'd come from.

**Thanks guys for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I realized just now that there are a few unintentional innuendos placed in this chapter. I left them in because they amuse me whilst I am engaged in the task of typing the chapters up. Remember to R&R as I love to hear your thoughts on my work. And once again I thank you all for reading.**


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